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Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hours, to global winds resulting from the difference in absorption of solar energy between the climate zones on Earth. The study of wind is called anemology. [1]
If the Earth were tidally locked to the Sun, solar heating would cause winds across the mid-latitudes to blow in a poleward direction, away from the subtropical ridge. . However, the Coriolis effect caused by the rotation of Earth tends to deflect poleward winds eastward from north (to the right) in the Northern Hemisphere and eastward from south (to the left) in the Southern Hemisph
But the winds above the surface, where they are less disrupted by terrain, are essentially westerly. A low pressure zone at 60° latitude that moves toward the equator, or a high pressure zone at 30° latitude that moves poleward, will accelerate the Westerlies of the Ferrel cell. A strong high, moving polewards may bring westerly winds for days.
A Köppen–Geiger climate map showing temperate climates for 1991–2020 The different geographical zones of the world. The temperate zones, in the sense of geographical regions defined by latitude, span from either north or south of the subtropics (north or south of the orange dotted lines, at 35 degrees north or south) to the polar circles.
The 2023 USDA plant hardiness zone map, which shows which areas of the country are suitable for growing plants and crops based on the lowest temperatures during the growing season.
Today, the most commonly used climate map is the Köppen climate classification, developed by Russian climatologist of German descent and amateur botanist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940), which divides the world into five major climate regions, based on average annual precipitation, average monthly precipitation, and average monthly temperature.
The wind's direction is from the north to north-northeast. [213] It leads to a localized acceleration of the trade winds in the region, and can enhance thunderstorm activity when it interacts with the Intertropical Convergence Zone. [214] The effects can last from a few hours to six days. [215]
Prevailing winds are strongly influenced by Earth's overall atmospheric circulation, in addition to smaller-scale and shorter-lived weather phenomena. In meteorology, prevailing wind in a region of the Earth's surface is a surface wind that blows predominantly from a particular direction. The dominant winds are the trends in direction of wind ...