National Weather Service Shreveport’s
Recreational Forecast Homepage
You're all prepared for a fishing or water skiing trip
on your favorite area lake that you’ve had marked on the calendar
for weeks in advance. You’ve probably even checked the weather
forecast and it calls for a sunny day with south winds near 10 mph.
Are these really the kind of winds you can expect on the open area of
a lake or reservoir? Being an avid fisherman, I cannot tell you how
many times I have checked the wind forecast before venturing out on
my favorite lake and found the winds to be stronger than what was forecast.
Any lake recreationalist will probably tell you the same thing. Too
often, this results in treacherous boating conditions on our local waterways
which can turn that enjoyable planned outing into a dangerously unpredictable
one.
During 2007, hourly wind observations were taken on various
waterways across our region and were then compared to the closest airport
wind observation for the same time. The results obtained from this study
determined that there is an approximately 4 to 5 mph increase in sustained
wind speeds on open bodies of water compared to the nearest airport.
Keep in mind that this difference is over an open waterway and is not
necessarily what one would find if they were boating in a protected
pocket of the waterway or near wind protected structure such as a tree
line, an island or point.
The National Weather Service in Shreveport now issues
a Recreational Forecast for different area waterways across Southeast
Oklahoma, Southwest Arkansas, Northeast Texas as well as Northwest Louisiana.
Below is a clickable map of the different waterways across the four-state
region. Simply click on waterway of interest to see the Recreation Forecast
and a hydrograph of the waterway if one is available. As this is a new
forecast product, we greatly value your input into ways to make this
website more usuful. Please contact either Mike
Berry or Nick Fillo
with any suggestions, comments or questions.