What Is Wind?

Wind is a powerful force of nature that has many benefits but also a potentially destructive side. Wind can erode the land, create waves and provide power. Wind can also be found in storms such as blizzards, tornadoes and hurricanes. There are winds all around the globe that have their own names.

Identification

Wind is simply air that is in motion. It is precipitated by the sun unevenly heating the surface of the Earth. When the sun warms up the surface the air above it is also warmed. However, some parts of the Earth receive more direct sunlight than others, meaning there are hot and cold regions. Warm air will rise while cold air will sink. Cold air will flow in and replace the rising warm air, causing wind to blow.

Types

There are various types of winds, named for where they occur and the directions they blow in. The trade winds are movements of air towards the Earth's equator. They are warm winds and constantly blowing, found from the equator to 30 degrees latitude. The doldrums are an area of almost no winds, where the trade winds from the north negate the trade winds coming from the south. The prevailing westerlies are found between 30 and 60 degrees latitude in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. They come from the west and shape weather patterns for much of the world. The polar easterlies are found from 60 degrees latitude and up in both hemispheres; they form when the cold air over the poles flows away from them, and they flow east to west.

Benefits

The benefits of wind are many. Wind disperses the seeds of plants all over the earth. It aids ships, boats, airplanes and balloons. It powers the planet's weather and can be harnessed for recreational purposes by kites and gliders and for energy purposes by windmills and wind turbines, being a cheap source of power that leaves behind no waste products.

Time Frame

The highest surface wind speed ever recorded occurred at the Mount Washington Observatory on top of the eponymous mountain in New Hampshire. On April 12th, 1934 at 1:21 p.m. a gust of 231 miles per hour was recorded on a device called an anemometer, which is designed to measure wind speeds. It remains the highest wind speed ever recorded, although scientists figure that the speeds of winds in some tornadoes are certainly higher.

History

Wind has caused much death and destruction. Blizzards, hurricanes and tornadoes in particular are particularly devastating. For example, the New England Hurricane of 1938 killed over 600 people as it unexpectedly came ashore in southern New England, driving a strong and deadly storm surge before it. The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 that hit the Florida Keys had so much wind power that it blew a 10-car rescue train right off the tracks and sand-blasted the skin off of unlucky people caught in it.