Insanely Great Wind Graphic

Some wind-inspired art and data for your Friday.

Brilliant data visualizers Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg (formerly of hint.fm and now part of Google) bring their graphical talents to wind energy and wind patterns in the following image. It's a dynamic visual -- so be sure to click on the image for a link to the original project.

Armed with surface wind data from the National Digital Forecast Database, the duo have created a stylized but meaningful snapshot of hour-by-hour wind patterns in the U.S. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of wind in the U.S. has never been lower but U.S. wind energy policy is contrary to industry growth.

Viégas and Wattenberg now lead Google's Big Picture data visualization research group.