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The westerlies (blue) and trade winds (yellow and brown) The general atmospheric circulation. Trade winds (red), westerlies (white) and the South Pacific anticyclone (blue) [1] 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.
Like trade winds and unlike the westerlies, these prevailing winds blow from the east to the west, and are often weak and irregular. [15] Due to the low sun angle, cold air builds up and subsides at the pole creating surface high-pressure areas, forcing an outflow of air toward the equator ; [ 16 ] that outflow is deflected westward by the ...
In the Pacific Ocean, the full wind circulation, which included both the trade wind easterlies and higher-latitude westerlies, was unknown to Europeans until Andres de Urdaneta's voyage in 1565. [4] The captain of a sailing ship seeks a course along which the winds can be expected to blow in the direction of travel. [5]
The weaker Westerlies of the Ferrel cell, however, can be disrupted. The local passage of a cold front may change that in a matter of minutes, and frequently does. As a result, at the surface, winds can vary abruptly in direction. But the winds above the surface, where they are less disrupted by terrain, are essentially westerly.
The wind does not flow directly from the hot to the cold area, but is deflected by the Coriolis effect and flows along the boundary of the two air masses. [34] All these facts are consequences of the thermal wind relation. The balance of forces acting on an atmospheric air parcel in the vertical direction is primarily between the gravitational ...
The trade winds blow westward in the tropics. The westerlies blow eastward at mid-latitudes. This applies a stress to the ocean surface with a curl in north and south hemispheres, causing Sverdrup transport equatorward (toward the tropics).
Winds of up to 40 mph will gust across a wide swath from eastern Minnesota to the New England coast, making already-chilly temperatures feel even colder and blowing any snow that does fall ...
Unlike the Westerlies, these prevailing winds blow from the east to the west, and are often weak and irregular. [45] Because of the low sun angle, cold air builds up and subsides at the pole creating surface high-pressure areas, forcing an equatorward outflow of air; [ 46 ] that outflow is deflected westward by the Coriolis effect.