WHY DOES THE WIND BLOW?

Picture of why the wind blows

Why does the wind blow? 🌬

Because the Sun heats our planet unevenly. Sunlight goes through the atmosphere — the air around the Earth. When one place becomes hotter than another place, the air pressure becomes different.

Air pushes on the ground and creates pressure. Above a hot place, air becomes lighter and rises up. So the pressure on the ground becomes lower. In colder places, the pressure is higher. Pressure always tries to be the same everywhere. So air moves from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas. This moving air is called the wind.

So, warm air rises up, the pressure near the ground becomes lower, and colder air from places with higher pressure moves in. This moving air makes the wind. All of this happens inside our atmosphere. The atmosphere is like an air blanket around the Earth.

A real example with places and numbers

Because of clouds, the ground in Ho Chi Minh City warmed only to 20 °C. In Da Nang there were no clouds, and the ground warmed to 30 °C.

So in Ho Chi Minh City the air is colder, heavier, and the pressure is higher. To make the pressure equal, the colder air from Ho Chi Minh City will move to Da Nang, where the pressure is lower.