Isobars and Wind

Wind is one of the most significant features of the weather. Strong winds can become inconvenient and, in extreme cases, winds can be powerful enough to cause widespread destruction. The wind can easily be assessed when looking at a weather map by remembering the following information:

1. Closer isobars mean stronger winds.
2. The wind blows almost parallel to the isobars.
3. In the northern hemisphere, the wind blows round a depression in an anticlockwise direction and around an anticyclone in a clockwise direction. In the southern hemisphere, the opposite is true.
4. Winds around anticyclones can sometimes be even stronger than indicated by the isobars.
5. In warm air, the wind is relatively steady and tends to blow at about two-thirds the speed that the chart would suggest, though there are exceptions to this.
6. In cold air, the wind is usually as strong as indicated by the isobars and can be very gusty.