Winds
Wind= Horizontal movement of air from a place of high air pressure to a place of low air pressure, caused by differences and changes in air pressure
Measuring Wind
Wind-Chill factor
Winds are described by their direction and speed
Direction is determined with a wind vane
Speed is measured with an anemometer
Wind removes body heat
Stronger wind = colder you are
Wind-chill factor= increased cooling
Local Winds= Winds that blow over short distances, caused by uneven heating within a small area
Sea Breeze
Land Breeze
Takes more energy to warm up a body of water than is does land
So a sea breeze is wind that rushes into the low-pressure area inland once the hot air rises
This occurs at night and is the reverse of a sea breeze
Global Winds
Global Wind Currents
Temperature differences between the poles and the equator create huge convection currents in the atmosphere
Warm air rises at the equator while cold air sinks at the poles causing winds to bow from the poles to the equator
The Coriolis Effect
Earth's rotations make winds curve instead of going straight path from the poles to the equator
Global winds in the northern hemisphere turn towards the right
Global Wind Belts
Trade Winds
Prevailing Westerlies
Horse Latitudes
Polar Easterlies
Doldrums
Jet Streams
Regions near the equator with little to no wind
Latitude= distance from the equator
30 degrees north and south of the equator the air stops moving towards the poles and sinks
Because of horse latitudes between 30 degrees and the equator in the northern hemisphere air blows from the northeast and in the southern hemisphere between 30 degrees south and the equator the wind blows from the southeast
Blow from the west to the east because of the Coriolis effect
Effect weather in the United States
Winds shifted to the west because of the Coriolis effect
Polar Easterlies and Prevailing Westerlies meet at 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south along a region called the polar front, effecting weather in the U.S.
10 km above Earth's surface are high-speed winds
100s of km wide few km deep
Blow west to east at speeds of 200 to 400 km per hour