Breakwall Waves, photo by Gary of the North

The Great Lakes Echo’s Jennifer Kalish has a feature on an animated wind map that’s driven by real-time data.

Two digital artists recently released an animated map illustrating the speed and direction of surface winds across the U.S.

Its ever changing patterns are driven by wind data from the National Digital Forecast Database kept by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The database also feeds information to the administration’s Great Lakes current map released last month to help the public better understand lake currents.

Click here to see the Wind Map.

Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light says that the iron pier light is 55 feet tall, and Gary’s photo from Sunday at the breakwall in Grand Marais shows what wind can do to the waves of Lake Superior! See this photo as big as the big lake or jump into his slideshow for a couple more shots of the wave action!

Read more about the Grand Marais Pier Light on Michigan in Pictures.