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Re: The Weather



Paul
Your explanation below is beautifully worded and clear.
However you did a good job explaining the motions of
air in the North-South directions but neglected to include
the Coriolis effect which would explain the east-west
movements.

Herb

On Sat, 13 May 2000 15:14:00 -0500 "Paul O. Johnson" <pojhome@SWBELL.NET>
writes:
Jim,

I teach my Physical Science students that our weather here in the
lower 48
is controlled by the large-scale circulation of the atmosphere. Hot
air
rises in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (10 degrees S to 10
degrees N),
spreads north and south while cooling in the upper part of the
troposphere.
This cool air sinks to form high pressure belts centered at 30
degrees N and
S. Air then moves away from these high pressure belts at lower
altitudes,
producing the prevailing northeast trade winds (10 to 30 N) and
southeast
trade winds (10 to 30 S) and the prevailing westerlies (30 to 45 N,
30 to 45
S) that govern the weather in our latitudes.

Paul O. Johnson

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Green" <JMGreen@SISNA.COM>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Saturday, May 13, 2000 12:49 PM
Subject: The Weather


Why does the weather tend to move from west to east?

Jim Green
mailto:JMGreen@sisna.com
http://users.sisna.com/jmgreen