Re: prevailing winds

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

> At 11:49 AM 5/13/00 -0600, Jim Green asked:
> > Why does the weather tend to move from west to east?
>
> Small-scale weather systems are carried along with the prevailing
> winds.  At temperate latitudes (and not otherwise) the prevailing winds are
> generally out of the west.
Yes, and the reason that the winds in the temperate latitudes are
generally westerly is because of the downflow of air from the
stratosphere in the vicinity of 25-30 degrees latitude. As the air
reaches the surface it splits and about half of it flows north. Then
the coriolis takes over and deflects the north-flowing air to the
right, or east. Thus the winds end up flowing from west to east.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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