Geography 103: Weather

Exercise 8. Winds at 300 mb.

The charts below show the wind speed and direction at the 300 mb level for January 13, 2004. These were printed from the web site weather.unisys.com. Go to this site to find instructions for reading and interpreting these. (Note - The top chart shows the wind speed and the bottom chart, the wind direction.)

Please use the data sheet to answer the questions following.

Approximately what altitude do these charts correspond to?

What units are the wind speeds given in?

What is the separation of adjacent contours in the wind speed (top) chart?

In what part of the U.S. (not including Canada) are the winds strongest? What is the maximum wind speed in the U.S.?

Winds are strongest where there are strong temperature contrasts in the lower and middle troposphere. Go back and look at the temperature contours for the 850 mb level. In what part of the U.S. are the contours closest together? Does this match up approximately with where the winds are highest?

What direction is the wind in Chicago at 300 mb?

Do you think this will be bringing colder or warmer air into the region?

There is a strong jet off the northern Pacific coast. How strong are the winds here?

What direction are these winds traveling.