Winds

Anemometer

-Has 3-4 cups mounted at the ends of spokes that spin on an axale -The force of the wind moves the cups which turns the axale

Sea Breeze

a breeze blowing toward the land from the sea, especially during the day owing to the relative warmth of the land.

Land Breeze

a breeze blowing toward the sea from the land, especially at night, owing to the relative warmth of the sea.

Wind-Chill Factor

-The increased cooling that a wind can cause is called wind-chill factor -The stronger wind the colder you feel

Jet Streams

10 km above earth's surface are bands of high speed winds

What causes wind?

Differences in air pressure

Prevailing Westerlies

The Westerlies, anti-trades, or Prevailing Westerlies, are prevailing winds from the west toward the east in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude. They originate from the high-pressure areas in the horse latitudes and tend towards the poles and steer extratropical cyclones in this general manner.

Global Wind Belts

The global wind pattern is also known as the "general circulation" and the surface winds of each hemisphere are divided into three wind belts: Polar Easterlies: From 60-90 degrees latitude. Prevailing Westerlies: From 30-60 degrees latitude.

Wind

The horizantal movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure.

Monsoon

a seasonal prevailing wind in the region of South and Southeast Asia, blowing from the southwest between May and September and bringing rain (the wet monsoon ), or from the northeast between October and April (the dry monsoon ).

Trade Winds

a wind blowing steadily toward the equator from the northeast in the northern hemisphere or the southeast in the southern hemisphere, especially at sea. Two belts of trade winds encircle the earth, blowing from the tropical high-pressure belts to the low-pressure zone at the equator.

Coriolis Effect

an effect whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force (the Coriolis force ) acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation. On the earth, the effect tends to deflect moving objects to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern and is important in the formation of cyclonic weather systems.

Doldrums

an equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean with calms, sudden storms, and light unpredictable winds.

Local Winds

are small scale convective winds of local origin caused by temperature differences. Local terrain has a very strong influence on local winds, and the more varied the terrain, the greater the influence.

Horse Latitudes

are subtropical latitudes between 30 and 38 degrees both north and south where Earth's atmosphere is dominated by the subtropical high, an area of high pressure, which suppresses precipitation and cloud formation, and has variable winds mixed with calm.

Global Winds

are the dominant prevailing wind patterns that blow in a fairly constant, steady direction across our earth. Global winds are comprised of three previaling winds: Tradewinds, Westerlies, and Polar Easterlies.

Wind Vane

measures wind direction

Polar Easterlies

the polar easterlies are the dry, cold prevailing winds that blow from the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the north and south poles towards low-pressure areas within the Westerlies at high latitudes.