How many different winds are there

Monsoons are part of a yearlong cycle of uneven heating and cooling of tropical and mid-latitude coastal regions. Monsoons are part of the climate of Australia, Southeast Asia, and in the southwestern region of North America. The air over land is heated and cooled more quickly than the air over the ocean. During summer, this means warm land-air rises, creating a space for the cool and moist air from the ocean.

As the land heats the moist air, it rises, cools, condenses, and falls back to Earth as rain. During the winter, land cools more quickly than the ocean.

The warm air over the ocean rises, allowing cool land-air to flow in. Most winter monsoons are cool and dry, while summer monsoons are warm and moist. The famous summer monsoon, on the other hand, develops over the Indian Ocean, absorbing tremendous amounts of moisture. The summer monsoon is essential for the health and economies of the Indian subcontinent. Aquifers are filled, allowing water for drinking, hygiene , industry , and irrigation. Tornado A tornado , also called a twister, is a violently rotating funnel of air.

Tornadoes can occur individually or in multiples, as two spinning vortex es of air rotating around each other. Tornadoes can occur as waterspout s or landspouts, spinning from hundreds of meters in the air to connect the land or water with clouds above.

Although destructive tornadoes can occur at any time of day, most of them occur between 4 and 9 p. Tornadoes often occur during intense thunderstorms called supercells.

A supercell is a thunderstorm with a powerful, rotating updraft. A draft is simply a vertical movement of air. This powerful updraft is called a mesocyclone.

A mesocyclone contains rotating drafts of air 1 to 10 kilometers 1 to 6 miles in the atmosphere. When rainfall increases in the supercell, rain can drag the mesocyclones down with it to the ground. This downdraft is a tornado. Depending on the temperature and moisture of the air, a tornado can last a few minutes or over an hour. However, cool winds called rear flank downdrafts eventually wrap around the tornado and cut off the supply of warm air that feeds it.

Most tornadoes have wind speeds of less than kph mph , and are about 76 meters feet across. They can travel for several kilometers before dissipating.

However, the most powerful tornadoes can have wind speeds of more than kph mph and be more than 3 kilometers 2 miles across. These tornadoes can travel across the ground for dozens of kilometers and through several states.

These violent storms occur around the world, but the United States is a major hotspot with about a thousand tornadoes every year. The most extreme tornado ever recorded occurred on March 18, The tornado destroyed local communications, making warnings for the next town nearly impossible. The Tri-State Tornado killed people in 3.

The best protection against a tornado is early warning. In areas where tornadoes are common, many communities have tornado warning systems. In Minnesota, for example, tall towers throughout neighborhoods sound an alarm if a tornado is near. Measuring Winds Wind is often measured in terms of wind shear. Wind shear is a difference in wind speed and direction over a set distance in the atmosphere.

Wind shear is measured both horizontally and vertically. Wind shear is measured in meters per second times kilometers of height. Under normal conditions, the winds move much faster higher in the atmosphere, creating high wind shear in high altitudes. Wind shear is higher near the coast, for example. The amount of force that wind is generating is measured according to the Beaufort scale. The scale is named for Sir Francis Beaufort, who established a system for describing wind force in for the British Royal Navy.

The Beaufort scale has 17 levels of wind force. An anemometer is a device for measuring wind speed. Anemometers are used with tornado data collectors, which measure the velocity , precipitation, and pressure of tornadoes.

The scale has six categories that designate increasing damage. In , the Enhanced Fujita Scale was established in the U. The Enhanced Fujita Scale has 28 categories, with the strongest cataloging damage to hardwood and softwood trees. Hurricanes are measured using the Saffir-Simpson scale. In addition to tropical depressions and tropical storms, there are five categories of hurricanes.

The most powerful, Category 5, is measured by winds whipping at kph mph. Impact on Climate Wind is a major factor in determining weather and climate. Wind carries heat, moisture, pollutants, and pollen to new areas. Many daily weather patterns depend on wind.

A coastal region, for instance, undergoes changes in wind direction daily. The sun heats the land more quickly than the water. Warm air above the land rises, and cooler air above the water moves in over the land, creating an inland breeze. Coastal communities are usually much cooler than their inland neighbors. Rain shadow s are created as wind interacts with a mountain range. As wind approaches a mountain, it brings moisture with it, which condense s as rain and other precipitation before coming over the crest of the mountain.

Winds also help drive ocean surface currents around the world. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current transports cold, nutrient-rich water around Antarctica. Due to the Gulf Stream, Northern Europe enjoys a much warmer, milder climate than other areas at similar latitudes, such as the U. Impact on Ecology Wind has the power to move particles of earth—usually dust or sand—in great quantities, and over far distances. Dust from the Sahara crosses the Atlantic to create hazy sunsets in the Caribbean.

Winds transport volcanic ash and debris for thousands of kilometers. The massive eruption of Krakatoa, an island volcano in Indonesia, had even more dramatic atmospheric results. Winds carried volcanic ash and debris high in the atmosphere across the globe. Europe endured years of cold, damp summers and pink sunsets. In some cases, this takes places in the desert, as sand dune s migrate and change shape over time. The Altiplano region of South America has dramatically shaped ventifact s—rocks carved by the wind-driven sand and ice.

Loess , a sediment that can develop into one of the richest soils for farming, is easily swept up by wind. Even when farmers take precautions to protect it, the wind can erode up to 2. The most famous example of this devastating windstorm is probably the Dust Bowl of s North America. Dust Bowl storms could reduce visibility to a few feet, and earned names like "Black Blizzards. However devastating to the economy, wind is an important way plants disperse seed s.

This form of seed dispersal is called anemochory. Plants that rely on anemochory produce hundreds and even thousands of seeds. Some of the most familiar seeds dispersed by the wind are those of the fuzzy dandelion. Wind Energy Wind has been used as a source of energy for more than a thousand years—it has pushed ships around the globe and been captured in windmill s to pump water; it has turned giant stones to grind grains, make paper, saw logs, and crush ore.

Today, most wind energy is used to generate electricity for homes, businesses, hospitals, schools, and industry. Wind is a renewable resource that does not directly cause pollution.

Wind energy is harnessed through powerful turbine s. Wind turbines have a tall tubular tower with two or three propeller-like blades rotating at the top.

When the wind turns the blades, the blades turn a generator and create electricity. Often, wind turbines are collected in windy areas in arrays known as wind farm s. Many wind farms have been established on mountains, in valleys, and offshore, as the air from the ocean interacts with land-air. Some people think wind turbines are ugly and complain about the noise they make.

The slowly rotating blades can also kill birds and bats—but not nearly as many as cars, power lines, and high-rise buildings. Secondary or Periodic Winds Seasonal winds: These winds change their direction in different seasons. For example monsoons in India.

Periodic winds: Land and sea breeze, mountain and valley breeze. Local winds These blow only during a particular period of the day or year in a small area. Winds like Loo, Mistral, Foehn, Bora. Primary Winds or Prevailing Winds or Permanent Winds or Planetary Winds These are the planetary winds which blow extensively over continents and oceans.

The two most well- understood and significant winds for climate and human activities are trade winds and westerly winds. Sharing is Caring!! Newsletter Updates Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss an important update!! Trending now. Shopping Cart. No products in the cart.

This is because westerlies create strong ocean currents on the western sides of the oceans in both hemispheres by the process of western intensification. These western ocean currents carry warm and subtropical water towards the poles in the Polar Regions.

In the southern hemisphere, the westerlies can be considered strong because there tends to be less land in the middle latitudes which gives rise to amplification of the flow patterns and slows down the wind.

The most powerful westerly winds in the middle latitudes form in groups referred to as Roaring Forties, in the range of 40 to 50 degrees latitude south of the equator. The westerlies act as an important force in carrying the warm equatorial waters and winds towards the western coasts of continents, particularly in the southern hemisphere due to its enormous oceanic spread.

Local winds are the ordinary winds. They are influenced by various landforms such as vegetation, hill, plains, water bodies, mountains and so on. The blow variedly and the changes are because of different temperatures and pressure regions during the night and day. Local winds are the kind of winds that are focused as part of daily weather by the meteorological department on broadcast media such as radio and TV.

The speeds of local winds range from mild to strong but just for a few hours, and they only blow over short distances. Common examples of local winds are the land and sea breezes , and valley and mountain breezes.

Doldrums are a belt of calms and light winds between the northern and southern trade winds of the Atlantic and Pacific.

They occur along a very low-pressure area around the equator where the prevailing winds are calmest. There are 3 types of winds on earth namely, Planetary, Secondary and Local winds. Winds can be permanent or temporary in nature. Sometimes, winds will be given the name of the direction from which they blow.

For example, the winds blowing from the East in the polar region are called Polar Easterlies. Planetary winds are nothing but the Permanent winds.