swirling winds

[russholio]

John,

As I was standing around our bonfire at hunting camp this weekend, constantly moving to escape the smoke that the wind would blow every which way, I got to wondering.....what causes the wind to swirl or constantly change direction? I understand that terrain features (either natural or man-made) would probably affect them, but is there anything else?

Thanks,
Russ

 

[jd]

Russ-

You are right, terrain features can cause the wind to change directions or speed or both, which will lead to the swirl in the wind you observed. Another thing that can cause it is the air molecules themselves. When one molecule encounters another, they will bounce off each other. If you multiply this by millions and trillions or molecules, you end up with what we call turbulence.

A real good example of this is when one layer of air is moving faster than the other. The two interact and you can even get a wave to form in the atmosphere. If one or more of the layers has enough moisture in it to form a cloud, you can get what is called a Kelvin Helmholtz Wave Cloud.



-John

 

[russholio]

Thanks, John. Can't say for sure which of these would be the prevailing cause(s) at our hunting property, but I know it makes hanging out around the fire a challenge and the hunting even worse than that!

 

[doomsman]

Kelvin Helmholtz Wave Cloud.
Do a search and you find some fascinating cloud reading.