You are watching the local weatherman on TV. You live in mid-latitudes in North America, and the weatherman says that winds high in the atmosphere are blowing toward the northwest. Is this normal?

Question

Social Studies

Daniella Drake

13 November, 22:41

You are watching the local weatherman on TV. You live in mid-latitudes in North America, and the weatherman says that winds high in the atmosphere are blowing toward the northwest. Is this normal?

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Answers (1)

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Joseph Hess · Answer 1

No, Northern Hemisphere winds aloft always move from west to east because of the Coriolis force.

Explanation:

The coriolis force is an inertial or fictitious force that works on objects that are moving within a frame of reference that rotates with respect to an inertial frame. In a reference frame with clockwise rotation, the force acts to the left of the motion of the object.

If the coriolis force had no effect in the wind, this would be, in fact, normal but since that is not the case, you can say that something strange is going on.