Wind comes from the churning movement of air heated up by the Sun. It moves from the equator to the poles and back again. It breezes in from the sea by day, and breezes back out again at night. Wind is always moving, but it never has a destination.
There isn't a place on the planet that accumulates wind. Some places seem windier than others, but not constant and getting worse all the time.
Wind doesn't stop, it has a continuos cycle like lots of things on the planet.
WIND MOVES FROM AREAS OF HIGH TO LOW AIR PRESSURE IN AN EFFORT TO BALANCE OUT THE AIR PRESSURES AROUND THE GLOBE.
You can say that winds starting point is the equator, not because it is "born" here but the FORCES responsible for its MOVEMENT are located here.
This is where the AIR PRESSURE starts to shift about. There is plenty of WARM AIR at the equator due to the bulge of the EARTH and the amount of DIRECT SUNLIGHT that hits it. The sunlight heats the air and the air then RISES, this creates a GAP below it and this GAP is now an area of LOW PRESSURE. As air naturally moves from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration (known as DIFFUSION), air moves in to fill this GAP, this rushing air is WIND.
The warm air that is higher up must go somewhere (remember, it's a cycle). Depending on which side of the equator it is, either drifts north or south, towards the poles. However, it doesn't go straight to the poles, after travelling about 30 degrees north or south (about 1/3 of the distance between the equator and poles), it starts to cool off and starts to sink (because it's the opposite to hot air) towards the ground. Some of this COOLER air will make its way back to the EQUATOR, filling the GAP left there by the air still warming and rising there. This makes a mini-cycle within the cycle known as a WIND CELL between the EQUATOR and the tropics located 30 degrees on either side of it. More WIND CELLS form between the areas of 30 - 60 degrees, 60 - 90 degrees and so on until you get to either the north or south pole. The entire planet is covered by this vast chain of WIND CELLS. The wind follows the shifting air, blowing north to south and south to north within these WIND CELLS.
Depending on where you live, winds often come from east or west, this is due to one very IMPORTANT FACTOR - THE EARTH IS SPINNING!
The Earth spins, taking the air with it. This creates a force called the CORIOLIS FORCE that puts a spin on the rising and falling air, making the wind cycle within each cell travel clockwise or anticlockwise, instead of straight up and down. It's a MESS! Seriously, we end up with a COMPLEX pattern of moving air, with alternating bands around the Earth having either westerly or easterly prevailing winds.
SEA BREEZE: again, this is kind of a mini-cycle within a cycle. It is caused by a smaller set of forces (hence the term breeze). The sea breeze is caused by the fact that the land heats up and cools down faster than the sea does. As the air is heated on the ground and rises, the air over the sea can rush in and fill this GAP on the land - giving you a SEA BREEZE. At night however, the REVERSE happens, the land COOLS faster (there's no heat - the Sun is shining on the other side of the planet). The warmer air over the sea is replaced by the air from the land. This in-turn creates a breeze that goes out to sea at night.
Thanks, much love. Adam :-) X
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