Ever find yourself biking down the road noticing the trees are dead calm, but it’s still very windy on the road? Elementary answers from our new ‘HOW AND WHY: Weather’ book discovered HERE.

Water doesn’t heat as rapidly as the earth. When air over the land rises, the cooler air over the water comes in to take it’s place. This creates an onshore breeze, and as you know, it’s much cooler nearer a lake or the ocean than the city. The land is heated by the sun and it becomes warmer than the water. The land heats the air above it and this warm air rises. Cooler air from nearby water moves in to take it’s place and creates a movement of air called an onshore breeze.

During the day, it is the land which heats faster than the water. But when the sun goes down, it is the land that also cools faster than the water. When the warmer air over the water rises, the cooler air from the land rushes in to take it’s place. This creates an offshore breeze.

THE BEAUFORT SCALE
Many years ago, before modern weather instruments were used, a man named Sir Francis Beaufort made up a scale to describe the force of winds by the way they acted over land and sea. Here is a form of this scale. Scale numbers indicate wind strength.

Here is the earth sliced in two, with bands drawn to show the different climates. One side shows the plants that grow and the other side shows the animals living in these different climates.

HOW AND WHY icon design.