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Wind
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
wind bending palm trees
What causes powerful wind squalls?
A compass-style diagram titled How to read wind direction shows arrows and labels for northerly, southerly, easterly, westerly, and intermediate wind directions, helping illustrate how winds are named based on their origin. Illustration showing the process of Santa Ana winds in California, with a map indicating high-pressure air from the Great Basin moving southwest toward the coast, funneled through mountains and valleys, warming and drying the air, which increases wildfire risk. Numbered labels explain each step and a wildfire is depicted at the end of the wind path. Dispersal of several types of seeds. World map showing mean sea-level pressure in millibars for January, with contour lines labeled with pressure values and color shading for land and sea. Red arrows indicate the general direction and speed of global winds, while red and orange dashed lines trace primary and secondary storm tracks, including regions of tropical cyclones. Major pressure systems like the Siberian High, Aleutian Low, Icelandic Low, and Azores-Bermuda High are labeled. Map of the world showing average sea-level pressure in millibars for July, with labeled high and low pressure systems such as the Asian monsoon low, Hawaiian high, Azores-Bermuda high, and Icelandic low. Red dashed and dotted lines indicate primary and secondary storm tracks, while arrows show the direction and speed of prevailing global winds. Typhoon and hurricane regions are marked in the western Pacific and Atlantic, respectively. A line graph shows how precipitation and evaporation vary by latitude, with peaks in precipitation near the equator and poles, and peaks in evaporation around 30 degrees north and south. Wind belts such as polar easterlies, westerlies, and trade winds are labeled across the top, illustrating their relationship to these patterns.
See how differing amounts of solar radiation at the poles and Equator affect Earth's climate and atmosphere
Learn how mountains, bodies of water, and human habitation affect atmospheric activity
Quizzes
Lightning over a farm field. Weather electricity thunderstorm light energy tree
Facts You Should Know: Weather Quiz
Umbrella colored like a rainbow sticking out above a sea of black umbrellas while it rains. (storm, weather)
Weather Words Vocabulary Quiz
rain. Child in the rain, wearing a rain coat, under a yellow umbrella. April Showers weather climate rain storm water drops
April Showers to March’s Lions and Lambs
Iceland, Glacier lagoon (Jokulsarlon)
Winter Weather Words Quiz

Wind: References & Edit History

Article Contributors

Primary Contributors

  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
    Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Article title updated for style. Nov 11, 2026
Modified link of Web site: Geosciences LibreTexts - Atmospheric Forces and Winds. Oct 01, 2026
Removed video; added wind direction diagram. May 08, 2026
Add new Web site: Thompson Rivers University Pressbooks - Environmental Geology - Solar and Wind. Feb 21, 2026
Add new Web site: Royal Meteorological Society - What is wind? Dec 26, 2025
Add new Web site: Roger Williams University Open Publishing - Introduction to Oceanography - Winds and the Coriolis Effect. Oct 18, 2025
Article revised and updated. Feb 07, 2025
Add new Web site: NOAA - Origin of Wind. Nov 30, 2024
Add new Web site: The University of Hawaiʻi Pressbooks - Atmospheric Processes and Phenomena - Atmospheric Forces and Wind. Sep 30, 2024
Add new Web site: Open Washington Pressbooks - Geography of Weather, Climate, and Climate Change - Atmospheric Pressure and Wind. Jul 24, 2024
Add new Web site: NOAA National Weather Service - Air pressure and wind. Dec 08, 2023
Add new Web site: Exploring Our Fluid Earth - Wind System. Sep 18, 2023
Add new Web site: Exploring Our Fluid Earth - Wind System. Mar 01, 2023
Add new Web site: Geosciences LibreTexts - Atmospheric Forces and Winds. Sep 29, 2022
Add new Web site: United States Energy Information Administration - Wind. Dec 26, 2016
Add new Web site: Easy Science for Kids - Wind Energy Facts. Dec 23, 2016
Add new Web site: Weather Wiz Kids - Wind. Sep 13, 2016
Add new Web site: Discovery Kids - How is Wind Created? Sep 13, 2016
Add new Web site: Kids Geo - Kids Geography - Atmospheric Pressure Makes The Wind Blow. Sep 13, 2016
Add new Web site: Weather For Kids - Wind. Sep 13, 2016
Add new Web site: Science Kids - Fun Science and technology For Kids! - Wind. Sep 13, 2016
Added video. Mar 20, 2015
Add new Web site: Energy Kids - Wind. May 23, 2014
Add new Web site: British Broadcasting Corporation - Wind, Whirlpools and Waves. Jun 06, 2011
Added video describing the formation of wind by interacting masses of high and low pressure air. Feb 09, 2011
Media added. Nov 08, 2010
Added new Web site: National Geographic - Wind. Apr 17, 2009
Added new Web site: The K-8 Aeronautics Internet Textbook - As the Wind Blows. Mar 19, 2009
Added new Web site: The K-8 Aeronautics Internet Textbook - As the Wind Blows. Mar 19, 2009
Article revised and updated. Nov 07, 2007
Article revised. Mar 26, 1999
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
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