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What Causes Winds?
February 1, 2024 at 08:37 AM EST
By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Dan Rupp
Wind is an everyday occurrence in the world of weather but what exactly is it and how does it work?
It all starts out with that huge ball of gas in the sky, the Sun. The Sun will unevenly heat the surface of the Earth which will create areas of hot air and cold air. Air at different temperatures reacts differently where hot air rises (less dense) and cold air sinks (more dense), creating pressure differences. This type of movement is exactly what happens at the center of low (rising warm air) and high (sinking cold air) pressure systems.
Sinking cold air in the center of high pressure systems have no choice but to spread out and move toward areas where there’s more room. The areas that have room are near the center of low pressure systems since that air is displaced into the upper parts of the troposphere. The stronger the pressure differences the higher the winds.
To sum it up, wind is the movement of air. Since the Earth is constantly heated unevenly, air will always need to move from areas air molecules have built up to areas that have space available, also known as diffusion.
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Image Courtesy of Pixabay.com
It all starts out with that huge ball of gas in the sky, the Sun. The Sun will unevenly heat the surface of the Earth which will create areas of hot air and cold air. Air at different temperatures reacts differently where hot air rises (less dense) and cold air sinks (more dense), creating pressure differences. This type of movement is exactly what happens at the center of low (rising warm air) and high (sinking cold air) pressure systems.
Sinking cold air in the center of high pressure systems have no choice but to spread out and move toward areas where there’s more room. The areas that have room are near the center of low pressure systems since that air is displaced into the upper parts of the troposphere. The stronger the pressure differences the higher the winds.
To sum it up, wind is the movement of air. Since the Earth is constantly heated unevenly, air will always need to move from areas air molecules have built up to areas that have space available, also known as diffusion.
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Image Courtesy of Pixabay.com