Can you find wind speeds for an area?

[Katymac]

well that's it really

www.metoffice.gov.uk?

I had a look and can't seem to find anything on wind speeds or trends of wind speeds

I must be looking in the wrong place

Are you looking to find the prevailing wind or just the wind for a given day? If for a given day try the BBC 5 day weather forecast. They give the wind speed and direction for your chosen location. Or this site seems to explain the prevailing winds quite well \link{http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/atmosphere/q0117.shtml\Aerospaceweb}

I need to know what the average wind speeds are in my area and what the maximum gust speeds

if you phone the met office direct, they have an 0845 number I think, it will be on that website, they can tell you things like current air pressure for your location (if you need to set a barometer). So I would think that they might be able to tell you over the phone about average or maximum wind speeds, even if it's not easy info to get on the website.

metcheck?

there might be an amateur meteorology group in the area where you live, too. A lot of people keep their own weather stations or at least an anemometer (spelling? it's a thingie to measure wind speeds). One of these local weather societies might have a member living near you that you can talk to.

I found it by accident, Katy, the info you wanted:
You need to get your postcode linked to a grid-reference first from streetmap, then type in your grid-reference (at 4 digit resolution) (which you can get off an OS map, otherwise) to
\link{http://www.bwea.com/noabl/index.html\Wind energy website.}, \link{http://www.dti.gov.uk/renewables/technologies/windspeed/online.html\dti website}.