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The westerlies, anti-trades, [2] or prevailing westerlies, are prevailing winds from the west toward the east in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude. They originate from the high-pressure areas in the horse latitudes (about 30 degrees) and trend towards the poles and steer extratropical cyclones in this general manner. [ 3 ]
The term originally derives from the early fourteenth century sense of trade (in late Middle English) still often meaning "path" or "track". [2] The Portuguese recognized the importance of the trade winds (then the volta do mar, meaning in Portuguese "turn of the sea" but also "return from the sea") in navigation in both the north and south Atlantic Ocean as early as the 15th century. [3]
Prevailing winds are strongly influenced by Earth's overall atmospheric circulation, in addition to smaller-scale and shorter-lived weather phenomena. In meteorology, prevailing wind in a region of the Earth's surface is a surface wind that blows predominantly from a particular direction. The dominant winds are the trends in direction of wind ...
The Westerlies or the Prevailing Westerlies are the prevailing winds in the middle latitudes between 35 and 65 degrees latitude. These prevailing winds blow from the west to the east, [ 38 ] [ 39 ] and steer extratropical cyclones in this general manner.
As a result, at the surface, winds can vary abruptly in direction. But the winds above the surface, where they are less disrupted by terrain, are essentially westerly. A low pressure zone at 60° latitude that moves toward the equator, or a high pressure zone at 30° latitude that moves poleward, will accelerate the Westerlies of the Ferrel cell.
The latitude ranges for the Roaring Forties and similar winds are not consistent: all shift towards the South Pole in the southern summer, and towards the Equator in the southern winter. [2] Wellington , the capital of New Zealand, is known as "Windy Welly" because it is one of the few cities situated in these gusty latitudes.
The largest ocean gyres are wind-driven, meaning that their locations and dynamics are controlled by the prevailing global wind patterns: easterlies at the tropics and westerlies at the midlatitudes. These wind patterns result in a wind stress curl that drives Ekman pumping in the subtropics (resulting in downwelling) and Ekman suction in ...
The winds that have the greatest effect on the climate of the region are the prevailing westerlies and the tropical easterlies. The prevailing westerlies, caused by the Coriolis Effect, explain why most major events that occur in North America come from the west and proceed east, which is where the majority of the Eastern Temperate Forest is ...