"Wind is the roughly horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by uneven heating of the Earth's surface. It occurs at all scales, from local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting tens of minutes to global winds resulting from solar heating of the Earth. The two major influences on the atmospheric circulation are the differential heating between the equator and the poles, and the rotation of the planet (Coriolis effect)."
2006-06-07 23:56:49
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answer #1
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answered by zen 7
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You may have heard before that warm air rises. Imagine you're sitting on a hillside overlooking a green valley, and you have on super glasses that allow you to see the air move.
As you move from morning to noon, the sun will warm the air in the valley, and it will begin to rise into the air. But nature won't leave a vacuum behind - other air will move in to take it's place. Maybe to your left there is a mountain. Because there is snow on the mountain, the air is cooler above it, and the air there is dropping. As that air gets lower, it feels the pressure drop over the valley, where the air is leaving to go higher, so airflow will start from the mountain to the valley. Voila - wind!
You might also have a lake or ocean involved, and the air over that will tend to be cooler - and dropping - as well. That air may also flow toward the valley. So as stronger air currents move from the mountain area or from the water to the valley, the winds will shift. The people in the valley will first feel the wind from the mountains on the left, then from the lake on the right. A breezy day!
Variations of this, on a larger scale, with wind moving from large high pressure areas to low pressure areas, is what causes most wind. Hope this helped!
2006-06-08 00:13:25
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answer #2
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answered by dougdell 4
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The BBC have an excellent site explaining all you will ever want to know about weather - hurricanes, lightning, wind etc etc. Try http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/understanding.
2006-06-08 20:59:35
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answer #3
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answered by Alan W 1
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Atmospheric pressures around the world.
2006-06-07 23:55:16
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answer #4
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answered by amrhappy1 6
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the sky
2006-06-08 00:04:47
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answer #5
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answered by kellysims76 2
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someones bottom
2006-06-09 00:51:14
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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