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The westerlies, anti-trades, [2] 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 (about 30 degrees) and trend towards the poles and steer extratropical cyclones in this general manner. [ 3 ]
The westerlies play an important role in carrying the warm, equatorial waters and winds to the western coasts of continents, [13] [14] especially in the southern hemisphere because of its vast oceanic expanse. The westerlies explain why coastal Western North America tends to be wet, especially from Northern Washington to Alaska, during the winter.
The term originally derives from the early fourteenth century sense of trade (in late Middle English) still often meaning "path" or "track". [2] The Portuguese recognized the importance of the trade winds (then the volta do mar, meaning in Portuguese "turn of the sea" but also "return from the sea") in navigation in both the north and south Atlantic Ocean as early as the 15th century. [3]
The endless chain of passing highs and lows which is part of everyday life for mid-latitude dwellers, under the Ferrel cell at latitudes between 30 and 60° latitude, is unknown above the 60th and below the 30th parallels. There are some notable exceptions to this rule; over Europe, unstable weather extends to at least the 70th parallel north.
The Westerlies or the Prevailing Westerlies are the prevailing winds in the middle latitudes between 35 and 65 degrees latitude. These prevailing winds blow from the west to the east, [38] [39] and steer extratropical cyclones in this general manner.
The weather charts in some countries or regions mark troughs by a line. In the United States, a trough may be marked as a dashed line or bold line. In the UK, Hong Kong [1] and Fiji, [2] it is represented by a bold line extended from a low pressure center [3] or between two low pressure centers; [4] in Macau [5] and Australia, [6] it is a
4 Role in weather formation ... of trade winds and the westerlies. ... season is due to increasing north-south temperature differences between the poles ...
A similar phenomenon to a weather front is the dry line, which is the boundary between air masses with significant moisture differences instead of temperature. When the westerlies increase on the north side of surface highs, areas of lowered pressure will form downwind of north–south oriented mountain chains, leading to the formation of a lee ...