Local Winds of The World

Local winds form a vital part of the world’s geography and showcase the nature of the region from which it emerges. These winds are generally evolving due to the heating of the land. There have been multiple local winds that are formed every year in different parts of the world and are of huge importance to the geography of the world. The winds are formed in a temporal and non-linear fashion. In addition to it, they normally tend to last for a few hours to a maximum duration of a day. Several such winds vary in nature as some are cold, some are warm, some are dry and the others are wet.

These local winds of any variant are usually formed due to variations in temperature and pressure conditions in that particular location. They are mostly confined to a certain extent of a location and do not travel to long horizontal and vertical distances and are mostly limited to the lower levels of the troposphere. But there is an exception to these winds as few of them can travel a long distance as they already have large dimensions. For instance, the northers of North America originate from the north of America, that is from Arctic Canada, and spread up to the South, that is to the Gulf of Mexico.

Usually, they are referred to as planetary winds. The pattern of the blowing of planetary winds depends on the latitudinal difference of atmospheric heating. The pattern that is followed by the planetary winds is also referred to as the general circulation of the atmosphere. The general circulation depends on the rotation of the earth, distribution of continent and ocean, emergence of the pressure belt, and lastly the motion of circulation of the ocean water that in turn influences the earth’s climate. This entire article deals with the list of famous local winds of the world. 

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Types of Local Winds

There are two types of Local winds, namely, periodical and non-periodical. 

1. Periodical Winds: These winds originate from the everlasting variation of temperature and pressure. Their cycle usually lasts for a maximum duration of 24 hours. For instance monsoon winds, land and sea breeze, and mountain and valley winds. The direction of the wind changes with the change of the seasons.   

2. Primary or Prevailing Winds: These are the planetary winds that blow over the oceans and continents. The well-understood and most significant winds that are the result of human and climate activities are trade winds and westerly winds.

Trade Winds: The trade winds blow in the direction from the high-pressure sub-tropical region to the low-pressure equatorial region. Thus these trade winds are confined between 300N to 300S. They are generally the northeastern trade wind in the north and southeastern trade wind in the south. Because of the convergence of the earth’s atmosphere, the trade winds from the two hemispheres when rushes to the equator rise in the troposphere and cause heavy rainfall.

Westerly Winds: These winds blow from sub-tropical high-pressure region to low-pressure sub-polar region. In the northern hemisphere, the wind blows from southwest to northeast. Similarly in the southern hemisphere, the wind blows from northwest to southeast. The current of the westerly winds in the southern hemisphere is stronger because of the vast water bodies as compared to the northern hemisphere where irregular currents of westerly winds because there are vast masses of land. The westerly winds are developed hugely in 40 to 65 degrees North.   

Difference Between Land Breeze and Sea Breeze 

Sea Breeze: The sea breeze develops over the sea coast or on a large Waterland of inland water bodies, when the land becomes much hotter than the water creating a high-pressure gradient that drifts over the surface of the water, pushing the breeze towards the land. On land, the impact of sea breeze declines after a range of 50kms. The average depth of the land-sea breeze is very shallow and varies between 100-200 meters in the tropical region but becomes more shallow in lake areas. The sea breeze carries with them the cool marine air over the entire topical region and thus the tropical region witnesses a drop of 5 to 10-degree temperature. The sea breeze comes into operation around 9-10 Am in morning and is operative throughout the whole day till 8 PM. The velocity of the breeze reaches its maximum intensity of 9-10Km/h during the mid-afternoon.

Land Breeze:  At night time when the temperature over the land drops and the pressure gradient over the topical land increases, the sea breeze starts flowing in the reverse direction from the land to the surface of the seawater. The pressure gradient is developed from land to sea because the temperature of the land gradually decreases and becomes lesser as compared to the adjacent seawater, thus the land breeze comes into play. But the characteristics of the land breeze are weaker than that of the sea breeze and the horizontal and vertical spread of the land breeze is less than that of the sea breeze. The moderate temperature of the coastal area is maintained by the land breeze during nighttime as it maintains a regular air circulation over the coastal region including the stretch of the water area. The maximum intensity of the land breeze is attained very early in the morning and slowly dies down with the rising of the sun.

Difference Between Mountain and Valley Winds

Valley Winds: During the daytime the slopes of the mountains due to high isolation receive more heat but the free atmosphere in the upland is not as heated as the slopes of the mountain.  As the valley doesn’t receive much isolation as compared to the slopes of the mountain, thus due to heat, the hot air is lifted upwards and low pressure is created in the slopes due to less isolation, high pressure of cold air is set in the valleys. Thus the air starts moving from high pressure to a low-pressure zone. This upward flow of the wind from the valley to the slope is called valley wind. The valley wind which is also known as Anabatic wind is more intense and persistent. Occasionally, they even reinforce with the prevailing wind on the upslopes of the mountain regions and thus result in heavy rainfall. The upslope breeze sometimes causes afternoon rain showers or may create a hot and humid daytime. These breezes are also accompanied by the cumulus clouds on the top of the mountain or along the slopes.

Mountain Winds: during the night time, when the mountain slopes radiate the heat that is trapped in the entire daytime, the air over the slopes also cools down readily. But due to the lowland of the valley, it is unable to radiate the heat at the same rate as the slopes. Thus the air over the valley region is hot and thus the pressure of the hot air is lesser than that of the cold air clinging over the slopes. Thus the heavier cold air moves downwards from the slopes to the valley and is known as the mountain winds. The flow of the cold wind from the slopes of the mountain to the valley is also called Katabatic wind. Due to this phenomenon, the floor of the valley becomes full of frost during the night. The mountain breeze is a common phenomenon during winter days whereas the valley winds are commonly witnessed during summer days. 

Types of Hot Local Winds

The hot local winds are the result of the compression heating of the downslopes which is also referred to as adiabatic heating. Some of the examples of the hot local winds are:-

1. Chinook: These are the hot and dry winds that flow in the rocky mountains of the eastern slopes. They happen due to the adiabatic heating which is a result of downslope compression. Chinook temperature is so warm that it sometimes completely removes the underlying snow and ice. Also, the winds are so dry that despite their temperature below freezing point, the entire snow bed melts due to sublimation.

2. Foehn: it is also dry and hot wind results due to the adiabatic heating on the slopes of the mountain range. They are commonly felt in the northern Alps of Switzerland. As the wind rises, the relative temperature of the region increases. The warm and dry Foehn is present in the northern Alps of Switzerland throughout the winters and thus keeps the temperature of the region warm. Hence the Alps are known as the climate oasis during winters.

3. Santa Ana: it is generated in the southern Santa Valley of California and it is very similar to the Chinook and Foehn in terms of the heat and the humidity factor. But it forms an air channel from east to west of Santa valley. As they also descend on the Rockies of the western slope, they are more dry and warm. 

4. Harmattan: They originate from the Sahara desert and stretch up to the Guinea coast of Africa. As this wind blows over the Sahara desert, it becomes extremely hot and loses all its moisture to become very dry. It also picks up sand, especially red sand while traveling over the Sahara desert and thus becomes very dusty. Thus by the time it reaches the coast of Africa, it brings down the humidity in the air and makes it dry and comfortable for the people there.

5. Khamsin: They generally blow in Northern Africa and Arabia and are dusty, warm, and dry in nature. They are vigorous in late winters and early spring but the normal temperature of this wind varies from 380 to 490C. They generally place themselves on the forward side of any temperate cyclone that occurs in those regions. 

6. Simoom: Due to the warm tropical hot masses they come into existence and are often associated with the Sahara desert which it is referred to the as warm, dry, and dusty wind. They result in very unpleasant weather conditions.

7. Loo: it originates from the Thar desert and then travels from northwesterly to westerly regions. They create very hot and dry currents of air during the months of summer, especially from March to May in Northern India and other adjoining regions. These hot waves create severe health hazards. 

Types of Cold Local Winds

Cold winds are dust-laden winds that are having a temperature below freezing point and thus create cold waves. Some of the local cold winds are:-

1. Mistral: It is a cold dry wind that blows from northwest to southeast directions in Spain and France. They occur in the winter season. Because of the presence of the Rhone river, the winds are channeled into the Rhone valley and therefore the valleys experience extremely cold weather. In the valley, they become stormy northern cold winds that have an average velocity of 55-65 km/h and can reach up to an intensity of 128km/h.   

2. Bora: They are north-easterly winds that are dry and cold and usually travel from the mountain towards the eastern shore of the Adriatic sea. It is a descendent from the northern slope of the Alps and is predominant in Italy. Though it is adiabatically heated still its temperature is very low as compared to other coastal winds. It has a velocity of 128-200 km/h.

3. Blizzard: It is very cold, powdery polar winds that are very violent in nature. They are dominant in the North and South polar regions like Canada, Siberia, USA, etc. they reach straight to the regions of the USA due to the absence of any mountain barriers in eastern or western parts. Due to the snow and ice present in the wind, the visibility drops to zero and the atmospheric temperature to below-zero degrees. In Antarctica, the velocity of this wind is 160 km/h.

4. Levanter: These are moist and damp winds that flow strongly in easterly regions like southern Spain and the Strait of Gibraltar. They usually stay from early to late winters and cause heavy fog. 

5. Pampero: It is a cold wind that initiates from the northwest regions like the Pampas of South America and it has a striking similarity to the northers of North America and Siberia. In the off-coast of Argentina, it is most active in winters. It stays from July till September. 

6. Buran: It is mostly associated with the northeasterly or easterly winds that are extremely cold and dry and is flown in Siberia and eastern Russia.