Paul Yeager has been a meteorologist for 25 years, having worked as a forecaster for 21 years, followed by 2 years as the managing editor of a major weather Web site. He has forecast the weather for the entire United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Paul is now a full-time writer whose writing experience, in addition to cloudyandcool.com, includes:
- The book Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities, which was published by Perigee Books (Imprint of Penguin USA)
- The book Literally, the Best Language Book Ever: Annoying Words and Abused Phrases You Should Never Use Again (Perigee Books)
- Contributor to AOL News
- Western U.S. Weather Blog on AccuWeather.com, from 2006 to 2008
- languageandgrammar.com–a popular language blog, co-written by Sherry Coven
- Special features, including a Special Report on Neologisms for Forbes.com (Why Language Changes)
- Various articles for regional and local publications
Represented by the LKG Agency
Note: Forecast requests for specific locations or events will not be answered. Comments about specific posts will not be published on this page.
Read Weather Ways– Before I die I want to know in terms I can understand (so forget dynamics and energy, etc) why the wind dies at night. I have received a lot of BS on this question, so if you don’t know honor me by saying so. I’m 79 so have only a few years to wait for the answer. Rube
By: Rube Erickson on May 6, 2011
at 7:10 pm
I’ll take a stab at it, Rube! But it’s more than what I normally tackle in a comment.
First, as you know, the wind does not always diminish at night. Think of a winter storm or hurricane–it’s as windy at night as during the day in those situations. However, the wind does diminish significantly at sunset in many calmer weather situations.
The diminishing wind scenario often happens following a sunny day. During the day, the sunshine heats the ground, and, in turn, the ground heats the air right above the ground. Since warm air is lighter than the cooler air above it, this sun-warmed air rises. In many cases, the atmosphere is stirred up enough by this heating process alone to result in a breezy day that turns calm when the ground-warming sun sets.
In many cases, it’s that simple…but…I’ll give you more infomation in case you’re interested in a more complete picture. I promise that I still won’t talk about “energy” and “dynamics,” though.
This process can be more dramatic than just creating a breeze, though. It can be a very windy day that becomes virtually calm at night.
Air is like water in a sense. When water near the heat source at the bottom of the pan rises, relatively cool water from the top of the pan sinks to replace it. Similarly, when sun-warmed air rises into an atmosphere where it’s windy aloft, the compensating sinking air elsewhere can pull some of the higher winds down to the ground with it. It’s not always that simple since there are other competing forces at work, but that’s a big part of it. As the process stops (when the sun sets), the wind doesn’t translate to the surface as effectively–and it becomes much calmer.
The weather is not always easy to explain, which is probably why you’ve never gotten a simple ansower. But, I hope this helps!
(On a side note, an exaggerated version of wind being pulled down from higher elevations is what can cause a 70- or 80-mph wind gust wind a thunderstorm–powerful upper-level winds are pulled to the ground by the thunderstorm–and that can happen during the day or night.)
By: pyeager on May 6, 2011
at 11:01 pm
I love your blog, and I even use your same theme. Please see my blog at stevendaughertysblog.wordpress.com
By: severestormsteve on March 11, 2012
at 2:31 pm
Will do, Steven!
By: pyeager on March 18, 2012
at 7:37 pm
That would be nice, thank you
By: severestormsteve on March 19, 2012
at 8:13 pm
[275] Luo thing did not end
By: http://www.hawaiianwords.info/phrases/science/astronomy/jimmy-choo-outlet-though-other-options.html?preview=1 on June 29, 2013
at 6:20 pm