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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 with the highest speed over a particular point on the Earth's surface at any given time.
Consequently, a wind blowing from the north has a wind direction referred to as 0° (360°); a wind blowing from the east has a wind direction referred to as 90°, etc. Weather forecasts typically give the direction of the wind along with its speed, for example a "northerly wind at 15 km/h" is a wind blowing from the north at a speed of 15 km/h ...
Four charts of the wind, 18th-century illustration based on medieval wind roses. The Tower of the Winds in Athens, of about 50 BC is in effect a physical wind rose, as an octagonal tower with eight large reliefs of the winds near the top. It was designed by Andronicus of Cyrrhus, who seems to have written a
The apparent wind on board (a boat) is often quoted as a speed measured by a masthead transducer containing an anemometer and wind vane that measures wind speed in knots and wind direction in degrees relative to the heading of the boat. Modern instrumentation can calculate the true wind velocity when the apparent wind and boat speed and ...
To determine winds aloft, radiosondes determine wind speed by GPS, radio navigation, ... These prevailing winds blow from the west to the east, [38] [39] ...
The leeward side is the side distant from or physically in the lee of the prevailing wind, and typically the drier. In an archipelago windward islands are upwind and leeward islands are downwind of the prevailing winds, such as the trade winds of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
In 1856, William Ferrel proposed the existence of a circulation cell in the mid-latitudes with air being deflected by the Coriolis force to create the prevailing westerly winds. [13] The understanding of the kinematics of how exactly the rotation of the Earth affects airflow was partial at first. [14]
where v is the equivalent wind speed at 10 metres above the sea surface and B is Beaufort scale number. For example, B = 9.5 is related to 24.5 m/s which is equal to the lower limit of "10 Beaufort". Using this formula the highest winds in hurricanes would be 23 in the scale.