Why do winds form

Cooler air rushes in from the ocean to take its place and presto, a wind is born. By late afternoon, a strong breeze can be blowing dozens of miles inland. A similar effect can occur near big lakes, where the wind is referred to as a lake breeze. Land breezes come at night, when inland temperatures drop enough that the ocean is now warmer than the land, reversing the effect.

Similar forces produce global wind patterns that affect climate. The tropics, for example, are always hot. Air rises here and spreads north and south, high above the land. Lower down, air is pulled in from the north and south. The coriolis effect , an offshoot of the Earth's rotation, makes moving air masses curve, so that the winds converging on the Equator come from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere.

These winds are called the trade winds. Farther from the Equator, the surface winds try to blow toward the Poles, but the coriolis effect bends them the opposite direction, creating westerlies. This is why so many weather events in the United States come from the west. Within the mid-latitudes, weather effects create high- and low-pressure zones, called highs and lows , respectively. Air moves from areas of high pressure to low pressure.

As it moves, however, it spirals due to the coriolis effect, producing the shifting winds we experience from day to day, as highs and lows drift under the influence of the prevailing westerlies.

Skip to content Winds. Introduction to winds. How do winds form? Wind classification. Types of winds. The Coriolis effect? Land and sea breeze. Blowing Everywhere The strongest wind gust ever documented was detected at the automatic weather station of Barrow Island, Australia, on April 10, The windiest spot in the world is Cape Farewell in Greenland. Share this article. Share on Facebook. Share on Twitter. Share on Linkedin.

Share on Reddit. Latest windsurfing news Robby Naish: the ultimate windsurfer and water sports icon. Top Stories Windsurfing Robby Naish: the ultimate windsurfer and water sports icon. Robby Naish is probably the greatest windsurfer in the history of the sport. Colder air sinks. The sun warms up the air, but it does so unevenly. Because the sun hits different parts of the Earth at different angles, and because Earth has oceans, mountains, and other features, some places are warmer than others.

Because of this, we get pockets of warm air and cold air. Since gases behave differently at different temperatures, that means you also get pockets with high pressure and pockets with low pressure. In areas of high pressure, the gases in the air are more crowded. In low pressure zones, the gases are a little more spread out.