The maximum wind speed during the forecast period km/hr (mdws).
Week 1 and week 2 forecasted index is available daily from September 1 to August 31.
Week 3 and week 4 forecasted index is available weekly (Thursday) from September 1 to August 31.
Winds can significantly influence crop growth and yield mainly due to mechanical damage of plant vegetative and reproductive organs, an imbalance of plant-soil-atmosphere water relationships, and pest and disease distributions in agricultural fields. The maximum wind speed and the number of strong wind days over the forecast period represent short term and extended strong wind events respectively.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have together developed a suite of extreme agrometeorological indices based on four main categories of weather factors: temperature, precipitation, heat, and wind. The extreme weather indices are intended as short-term prediction tools and generated using ECCC’s medium range forecasts to create a weekly index product on a daily and weekly basis.