Weather Systems

Prevailing Westerlies

flows between 30 degrees and 60 degrees latitude north and south of the equator. Its circulation pattern is opposite of the trade winds.

Trade winds

30 degrees latitude north and south. Air sinks and moves toward the equator from northeast to southwest in the northern hemisphere and from the southeast to the northwest in the Southern hemisphere.

The area near the equator where the trade winds converge is called the what?

Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (Doldrums)

What winds steer the weather systems in the middle latitudes?

Jet streams

Polar Easterlies

Lies between the poles and 60 degrees latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere the winds flow from the Northeast to the Southwest. They flow in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere.

Jet Stream

Narrow bands of fast, high altitude, westerly winds that flow at the boundaries between wind zones in the middle latitudes.

The prevailing westerlies are responsible for the movement of many weather systems across much of where?

North America

What winds flow from the Northeast to the Southwest in the Northern Hemisphere?

Polar Easterlies

What is the most important wind that separates the polar easterlies from the prevailing westerlies?

Polar Jet Stream

Each hemisphere has three basic wind systems. What are they.

Trade winds, Polar Easterlies, Prevailing Westerlies

Coriolis Effect

deflects moving air to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the southern Hemisphere.

The winds from both Hemispheres of the trade winds converge at the equator. The winds are forced upward creating and area of what.

low pressure

The deflection of wind to the right in the Northern Hemisphere is cause by the Earth's ___________.

rotation