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The westerlies (blue) and trade winds (yellow and brown) Global surface wind vector flow lines colored by wind speed from June 1, 2011 to October 31, 2011. 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 ...
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 ]
Besides the westerlies, and trade winds, the large surfaces of land also effect the wind, causing cyclones, hurricanes and other deviations to the normal direction of trade wind File usage The following 10 pages use this file:
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 Hadley and polar cells are truly closed loops, the Ferrel cell is not, and the telling point is in the Westerlies, which are more formally known as "the Prevailing Westerlies." The easterly Trade Winds and the polar easterlies have nothing over which to prevail, as their parent circulation cells are strong enough and face few obstacles ...
The winds that have the greatest effect on the climate of the region are the prevailing westerlies and the tropical easterlies. The prevailing westerlies, caused by the Coriolis Effect, explain why most major events that occur in North America come from the west and proceed east, which is where the majority of the Eastern Temperate Forest is ...
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Note that the boundary between the westerlies and the trade winds moves north in summer and south in winter. Portuguese route to India, outbound in red, return route in blue. Northwest Africa: Those sailing from Europe leave the Strait of Gibraltar and soon hit the Canary Current, which pushes them southwest down the African coast.