Why does the wind blow in gusts and not at a uniform velocity?

Answer 1

The atmosphere is 3 dimensional. Wind gusts are normally created by the mixing of air either in the vertical or the horizontal. Surface friction and surface heating are the 2 main causes of the mixing of the air.

The friction of the earth's surface, such as mountains, tall buildings and large trees, cause blockages in the wind flow which result in wind gusts. If you were at the beach you would find that an onshore wind is generally less gusty that a wind flow coming from the land. That is because the sea is relatively flatter in most cases.

Surface heating also plays a role. The earth's surface is heated unevenly for various reasons. For example, cloud cover can shade one area, yet not another area nearby. The cooler air over the shaded area replaces the warmer air, causing the warm air to rise. This will cause gusty winds near the surface and can actually cause cumulus type cloud to form too if the warm air is moist enough.

Answer 2

Why Does Wind Gust

Answer 3

Gusts and lulls in the air flow are caused by turbulance in the atmosphere.Gusts are sudden increase in the wind speed and lull is the sudden decrease in the wind speed.
The turbulances that cause these variations in wind speed are of mainly two types one being the mechanical turbulance and the other being the thermal turbulance .
Mechanical turbulances in which rotating parcels of air near the surface, called eddies manifest itself in the form of gusts and lulls.This type of turbulance is caused by the obstruction of tall buildings ,small hills etc.
Thermal turbulance in which convectional currents , set up by the intense isolational heating near the ground give rise to turbulant fluctuations which appear as gust and lulls on hot summer days especially during afternoons. Thus the wind at a place is seldom steady.Both the velocity and the direction are bound to vary with space and time.

Answer 4

The gust may be caused by instability or by natural or artificial obstacles, such as

- Barrier effect : High buildings, a cliff, mountain or mountain range can form a wall that deflects the wind with varying force, depending on the strength and direction of the air flow.

- Valley effect : Any well-defined valley channels the wind. Depending on the valley's orientation, the wind may be channelled in a much different direction from the unconstrained upper-air winds, called "prevailing" winds. The St. Lawrence Valley is an excellent example.

- Funnel effect : when steep sides of a valley, or cliffs, hills or mountains suddenly narrow, this produces a funnel effect.

- Shear : A sort of rip in the atmosphere occurs at the junction of horizontal air layers of different speed or direction, producing a vertical wind motion, or shear.

Answer 5

wind blow gusts uniform velocity

Answer 6

there r many reasons to cause wind blowing;the rotation of the earth,the rises of heat n water vapour into the sky,earthquake,ice melting from the north n south poles,the currents from the sea,etc.all r very gusty especially at a higher place.u only can feel a bit better where u r at the centre of a vast piece of land.