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How can wind speed and direction be determined from surface weather charts?

  • A

    By alignment and distance of hypsometric lines.

  • B

    By alignment of lines of warm and cold fronts.

  • C

    By annotations from the text part of the chart.

  • D

    By alignment and distance of isobaric lines.

Isobars are lines that connect points of equal atmospheric pressure on a weather chart. They help to visualize the pressure distribution over a specific area.

The wind direction can be inferred from the orientation of the isobars: it will flow roughly parallel to the isobars but slightly inward towards lower pressure.

Wind is generated by the differences in pressure between high and low pressure systems, leading to the pressure gradient force (PGF), which represents the change in pressure over a given distance. The PGF acts directly from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas. The spacing of the isobars determines the strength of this force: the closer the isobars, the greater the pressure difference, resulting in a stronger PGF and higher wind speeds.

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