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I'm working on a science fair experiment for 7th grade. How much does wind direction correspond to temperature and weather in Utah County? I think that northwestern winds bring cooler temperatures and stormier weather.
Thanks, Adam B.
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Wind direction corresponds to weather not only in Utah county but all around the world. The way our weather systems move are something you'll need to learn about to understand this.
Our weather moves around the globe and on the surface where we live we look for areas of high and low pressure. In the Northern Hemisphere, areas of low pressure move in a counter-clockwise direction and areas of high pressure move in a clockwise direction. This means the air flowing around the center of the high or low moves in such directions as listed.
If we're sitting in Utah and an area of low pressure is over Nevada, the flow will be out of the south ahead of the area of low pressure. As it moves across our state, the winds will shift to the north and help usher in much colder air.
When the winds are out of the north, it helps to bring in colder air, when it's out of the south, we have warmer air moving in. It also helps to know a a bit about cold and warm fronts so there's some links on the right.
How much does wind correspond to temperature you ask? It's tough to put a number on it, but it's more of, when the wind shifts to the north it opens the door for colder air. HOWEVER, not all wind shifts cause temperature changes. You can also have a wind shift with a very weak front or something else like an upper level low or a surface trough, and these sometimes don't much cold air with them. Thus, the wind can shift, and that's all that happens! Temperatures don't necessarily start to fall when the wind shifts to the north all the time.
Wind itself
Also, you are not entirely correct in that NW winds bring stormier weather. NW winds can often times bring a whole lot of nothing! You can have stormy weather ahead of a cold front with winds out of the south as well as stormy weather behind it. Or you can have no weather along a front and it can be dry.
There's lots to think about in this topic but the main point to key in on is how fronts move and how the wind shifts with their passages along with areas of high and low pressure.
Best of luck with your project, as you're finding out, not all generalizations work for all types of weather.
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
