词条 | windstorm |
释义 | windstorm meteorology ![]() Windstorms may last for just a few minutes when caused by downbursts from thunderstorms (thunderstorm), or they may last for hours (and even several days) when they result from large-scale weather systems. A windstorm that travels in a straight line and is caused by the gust front (the boundary between descending cold air and warm air at the surface) of an approaching thunderstorm is called a derecho. Gustavus Hinrichs, a physics professor from the University of Iowa and founder of the Iowa Weather Service, applied the term derecho—a Spanish word that means “straight” or “right”—to straight-line winds in 1888. Derechos are capable of causing widespread damage and landscape devastation. For example, the winds of a derecho occurring in northern Minnesota, U.S., on July 4, 1999, peaked at or near 160 km (100 miles) per hour and blew down tens of millions of trees. Longer-period windstorms have two main causes: (1) large differences in atmospheric pressure across a region and (2) strong jet-stream (jet stream) winds overhead. Horizontal pressure differences may accelerate the surface winds substantially as air travels from a region of higher atmospheric pressure to one of lower. In addition, the vertical turbulent mixing of stronger jet-stream winds aloft can produce strong gusty winds at ground level. Intense winter storms are frequently the cause of long-lasting windstorms. Such winter low-pressure systems have large horizontal pressure differences and are always accompanied by strong jet-stream winds aloft. In the northeastern United States, windstorms that occur as particularly strong low-pressure systems and move northward along the Atlantic Coast are called “nor'easters.” Cold (cold front) fronts (front) associated with such intense low-pressure systems can produce windstorms both as they pass and for a period afterward as colder air flows overhead. Such movement of cold air aloft is particularly effective at causing the downward mixing of jet-stream winds. Windstorms create dust storms and sandstorms in arid and semiarid regions. In North Africa, these cold frontal windstorms are often referred to as haboobs (haboob). blizzard conditions can occur when the windstorms pass over snow-covered ground. The U.S. National Weather Service issues blizzard warnings when sustained winds or frequent gusts are forecast to be 56 km (35 miles) per hour or greater for at least three hours with sufficient blowing snow to reduce visibility to less than 400 metres (1,300 feet). This type of windstorm also produces dangerous wind chills (wind chill). A wind speed of 55 km (34 miles) per hour with an air temperature of –6.5 °C (20.3 °F), for example, produces a loss of body heat equivalent to what occurs in calm winds with an air temperature of –29 °C (–20.2 °F). When cold fronts pass over mountains, cold air accelerates even more as it moves downslope. Downslope winds are called fall winds or katabatic winds (katabatic wind). Windstorms of this type are called boras (bora) or downslope windstorms. ![]() |
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