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Weather Lab 6-8 / Week 04 / Friday
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Week 04 · Where Wind Comes From

Friday

Wind in everyday life
// Air on the move, from high pressure to low
⏱ about 20 min

Friday: Wind in Everyday Life

Rocket listens to the morning weather report with a pencil ready. "Northwest wind at twelve miles per hour," it says.

"Northwest," Rocket repeats, and draws an arrow on the station compass pointing from NW toward SE.

Raven checks the flag outside. "What do you notice? The flag agrees with the report."

Nova brightens. "And your Beaufort estimate yesterday was force 3," she says. "Does that match twelve miles per hour?"

Rocket runs his finger down the table. "Force 3 is 8 to 12. We were right!"

Raven writes the report beside their own reading. "Our station and the real one agree," she says. "That is a good sign."

Reading a wind report

A real report gives the direction the wind comes from and a speed. "Northwest wind at 12 mph" means air moving from the northwest at 12 miles per hour.

Reports also give direction in degrees, measured clockwise from north. North is 360, east is 90, south is 180 and west is 270.

On a weather map, air blows clockwise around a high pressure center and counterclockwise around a low in the Northern Hemisphere.

The wind also crosses the isobars slightly, outward from the high and inward toward the low. Friction with the ground causes that.

Air flowing into a low cannot pile up, so it rises. Rising air cools, and clouds and rain often follow. Air sinking over a high warms, and clouds fade.

Report saysAir moves fromAir moves toward
North windNorthSouth
East wind at 90 degreesEastWest
Southwest windSouthwestNortheast
DECODE THE REPORT
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A report says "south wind at 10 mph". Which way is the air moving?
In the Northern Hemisphere, air circles a low pressure center which way?
Air flows in toward a low and cannot pile up. What does it do?
Air sinks over a high pressure center. What usually happens to clouds there?

Why wind matters

Sailors built the Beaufort scale so they could judge the wind by eye. Pilots take off and land facing into it.

The sea breeze cools a beach town on a hot afternoon. The flow of air between highs and lows moves storms across the map.

Next week you will add the second ingredient of weather: water in the air. You will see how rising air turns it into clouds.

Week reviewTrue or false?
Wind is air in motion, named for the direction it comes from.?
Air flows from low pressure toward high pressure.?
Warm air is less dense than cool air and rises.?
A daytime sea breeze blows from the land toward the water.?
The Earth's rotation makes moving air curve.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEThese five ideas explain the wind at your station and the winds around the whole planet.
OUR WEEK, IN ORDER
  • ?We learned that wind is named for where it comes from.
  • ?We saw that heat from the Sun drives convection and the sea breeze.
  • ?We built a wind flag and a compass and took readings.
  • ?We read the three circulation cells and the Coriolis effect.
  • ?We decoded a real wind report.
WHY THIS EXERCISEThe week moved from one flag at your station to the pattern of winds around the Earth.
Air flows from high pressure toward which pressure? Type one word.
WHY THIS EXERCISEThis rule is the start of every forecast you will make in week 12.
Rising warm air and sinking cool air is called ____.
The curving of wind caused by the Earth's rotation is the ____ effect.
Try it
Listen to or read a weather report with a grown-up and find the wind direction and speed.
Compare it with your own flag reading and Beaufort estimate at the same time. Record both in your log.
Draw the Earth with its three circulation cells in each hemisphere. Label the Hadley, Ferrel and Polar cells and mark the high pressure band near 30 degrees.

Strong week, weather watcher. Tomorrow is Station Day: a family wind watch from sunrise to sunset.

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