why is there more wind during the day than in the middle of the night. it always seems that the lake is glass at night and early then gets windy as the day goes on then does again right before dark and is calm all night.

To answer in short what causes wind:   Wind results from the horizontal  motions of air from areas of high surface pressure to areas from low surface pressure.

Wind is created by the earth heating up, thus at night is the coolest and wind decreases until the sun starts peaking out again.

Like you mentioned, it can be glass at night and soon as twilight appears, some breeze can be noticed on the water.

Short answer, but to the point.

Matt.

thanks matt, i always wonder what made the wind blew.

Before now, i thought it was the clouds sneezing. I figured, The reason why there wasn't as much wind at night was becuase most of the clouds where asleep. ;D

Matt

Barring a local front, wind currents at night are usually tamer than wind currents during the day.

This is the result of the earth being heated by solar radiation, which in turn produces air turbulence.

Deer hunters are usually far more attuned to air currents than anglers, due to the deer's keen sense of smell.

If you're hunting in hilly country, you will notice a fairly consistent phenomenon.

On your morning stand after sunrise, the thermal drift will be rising UP the mountain slope as the earth warms.

On your evening stand as dark approaches, there's a thermal reversal and the air will roll DOWN the slope as the earth cools.

Barring a local front, wind speeds typically increase as the day wears on, due to the earth's cumulative solar gain,

normally building to a peak in the afternoon.

Roger

So why does the wind always blow at my local lake?  Today, as I was driving to the lake during the lunch hour, I passed the bank and the flag was hanging limp -- same with a couple of other flags that I passed on the way (about 4.5 miles from my office to the lake) -- when I got there, the flag at the entrance was standing straight and the wind was blowing anywhere from 15 - 20 mph.  I have noticed this phenomenon all year.  Any ideas?

I have lakes that always seem windier than other nearby lakes as well. My theory is that the windy lakes have less protectionfewer tall trees and similar obstaclesto block the wind from the predominant wind direction in my part of the country, so they always seem windier than other lakes nearby that may have a thicker and taller forest on that side. Track the wind direction on the windy days, and you may find a connection.

It takes water more time to change temperature than it takes land to change temperature.

Consequently there's a thermal differential between the temperature of air over land and the temperature of air over water.

This temperature difference is what causes the incessant land/sea breezes along the oceanfront where the two collide,

and to a lesser extent over our waterways. This is also the cause of the so-called "maritime effect" of real estate near water.

For instance, palm trees stop growing in Florida, but if you cling to the Atlantic coast

you will find palm trees as far north as the Carolinas. Move inland a few miles and they completely vanish.

Roger

The wind "really blows".....

....and besides that, it creates strong horizontal movements of the air, which can be a pain in the arse for anglers ;-)

Peace,

Fish

The location and the topography around the lake is also important, there 's a lake about an hour drive from my home located at the lower part of the Sierra de Guanajuato, the lake is in practical terms always windy, if wind doesn 't blow from the dam to the upper end then it blows from the upper end towards the dam, but there are mountains ( not hills but real mountains ) all over that area that act like a wind tunnel and the lake is in the middle of them On extremely rare ocassions you see that lake like glass, and when that happens you don 't catch a thing, it 's such a rare occurence that when it happens bass turn ultra spooky, lure and line shy.