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WIND
Air is moving all the time. When we can feel it or see its effects we know it as wind. Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the sun. The sun warms the atmosphere and the
Earth's surface too. Some parts of the Earth receive direct rays from the sun all year and are always warm while other places receive indirect rays and the climate is cooler. Warm air rises and cool air sinks toward the Earth's surface. The movement of cool air replacing the rising warm air makes the wind blow.
The strength and direction of blowing winds determine our weather. Breezes, gales, storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones and typhoons have different characteristics. Two main causes of large-scale atmospheric circulation are the different heating between the equator and the poles, and the rotation of the planet. In the tropics, low circulations over land and high plateaus cause monsoons. In coastal areas sea breezes, land breezes and differences in land elevation, such as mountains and valleys affect local winds patterns. Channels of high altitude, fast-flowing air known as jet streams are situated about 12 kilometers above the Earth's surface and are found at boundaries of air masses that have significantly different temperatures in the southern and polar regions.
Because of the effect of the Earth's rotation, some jet streams flow west to east in a weaving manner.
The Polar Easterlies, which form when the atmosphere over the poles cools making the air sink and spread out, turns to the west.
Many local wind systems in the United States have their own names such as the Chinook winds and the Santa Anas. Other countries have specific names for wind phenomena such as the Mistrals in
Europe. This year, strong Santa Ana winds have wreaked havoc on parts of Southern California.
Thousands of residents remained for days and weeks without power. The combination of strong

offshore winds and upper level winds have produced wind gusts to 80 mph and higher through the
Los Angeles Metropolitan area. On December 1st, a gust of 97 mph was recorded at Whitaker Peak in Los Angeles county. Hundreds of trees were blown down in Pasadena. Strong gusts along mountain ridges in southern and central California were measured at150 mph. These winds were caused by the funneling of winds down through mountain canyons and slopes. Wind storm gusts of hurricane force have recently affected California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and
Wyoming. Extremely high winds damaged Northern Utah on December 1, 2011. In Centerville,
Utah, sustained winds reached over 70 mph with gusts to 100 mph.
Tornados in the Midwest and southern Plains and the Southeast have set records for numbers of storms and their intensity. Joplin, Missouri had their first EF-5 tornado since records have been kept.
The degree of destruction to well built homes and businesses that were carried off their foundation, crushed, or piled into each other was shocking. Reports have come in of tractor trailers, cars and vans being thrown over 100 meters away, or even several kilometers. Other cars were compressed and wrapped around the few remaining trees, and some were even rolled into balls. Steel roof supports were left twisted or curved.
Hurricane Irene was a large and powerful Atlantic hurricane that left extensive flood and wind damage along its path through the Caribbean, the United States East Coast and as far north as
Atlantic Canada. After briefly reemerging over water, Irene made a second U.S. landfall in New
Jersey the morning of August 28 and was the first hurricane to make landfall in that state since 1903.
A great deal of damage from flooding was experienced in many eastern seaboard states from New
York to Maine and Vermont.
Typhoons have affected countries in the Pacific and in the Middle East. Typhoon Roke and
Typhoon Talas hit the Japanese Mainland and Islands. Typhoon Roke carried sustained winds of
100 mph, equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane. Typhoon Roke made landfall in the central part of

mainland Japan, southwest of Tokyo. The city of Tokyo experienced tropical storm force winds with gusts that were measured at 83 mph. Pakistan and Thailand suffered terrible flooding in 2011 from typhoons that blew in extraordinary amounts of precipitation and provoked extreme monsoon rains that may have been exacerbated by the high pressure system that caused terrible drought in
Russia.
Wind has the capacity to affect weather on a global scale in ways that are often unanticipated and deadly.

How Santa Ana winds form-
Typically, strong high pressure moves across California and generates winds that howl through north-south canyons in places such as Malibu, sometimes downing power lines that ignite blazes.
Reporting and illustration by Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times

Sources:
I.
Surge coming after Alaska coast hit by major storm,msnbc.com staff and news service reportsupdated 11/9/2011 10:13:23 PM ET http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45218633/ns/today-weather/t/surge-coming-after-alaska-coast-hit-m ajor-storm/#.Tt08k2PNm-U
II.
Thousands still without power after last week’s California windstorms; new gusts on way http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/california-recovering-from-last-weeks-ferocious-windstor m-but-new-winds-are-on-the - way
2011/12/05/gIQAu8X7VO_story.html,http://www.washingtonpost.com/national
III.
Strong Santa Anas are on way by By Abby Sewell and Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles
TimesDecember 4, 2011, 8:23 p.m.-ww.wlatimes.com/news/local/la-me-wind-20111205,0,7137363.story
IV.
Wind DrivenSurface Currents: Upwelling and Downwelling Background and Data Stream
Ocean by the American Meteorological
Society.http://oceanmotion.org/html/background/upwelling-and-downwelling, 2011.
V.
Tropical Storm Talas , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Talas_(2011 )
VI.
Super Typhoon Roke http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/wp201118.asp
VII.
Typhoon Roke crashes into Japan, by By Jason Samenow, 11:05 AM ET, 09/21/2011 http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/wp201118.asp
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VIII.
Joplin Storm Event Survey http://www.crh.noaa.gov/sgf/?n=event_2011may22_survey

IX.
Irene: Worst Effects on Northeast in 50 Years Possible By Alex Sosnowski, Senior
Meteorologist, By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist, Aug 27, 2011; 7:26 AM
ET.http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/irene-could-bring-the-worst-no/54235
X.
Flooding in Pakistan during Russian drought was no coincidence, By Scott K. Johnson
September, 2011,http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/07/flooding-in-pakistan-/
XI.
Thailand-floods- Ancient Capital Damaged,by Dennis D. Gray,
11,13,11_1091484.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/13/thailand-floods-2011-ancient-c apital_n_1091484.html