What Makes It Windy Outside And Why Is It So Common In Spring?

The Science Behind Spring’s Wild Winds

Spring is the windiest season for the West, Plains, and Southeast, but why is it that March, April and May have so much gusto?

It all comes down to big differences in weather that spring is known for.

Wind is the movement of air caused by uneven heating of the atmosphere.

Big differences in temperature over relatively short distances become more common as we nudge into the warmer months.

|

Weather in your inbox

Email

Forecast Location

Sign Up

By signing up you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy.  Unsubscribe at any time.

(MORE: Snowfall Can Vary Wildly Over Short Distances, Too)

The sun heats the tropics more than it does the polar latitudes and there’s a constant battle to equalize this heating. Bursts of chilly Canadian air can still punch into the Rockies and down the Plains through May while more tropical air is often trying to surge northward into the Plains, South and Midwest.

Low pressure systems often get their energy from these warring sectors of different air masses. The bigger the differences in temperature sectors, the stronger a low pressure system will be.

(MORE: Further beef up your forecast with our detailed, hour-by-hour breakdown for the next 8 days – only available on our Premium Pro experience.)

When a high pressure system and a low pressure system are farther apart, the air can take its time to move toward the lower pressure.

(MORE: Discover Types Of Low Pressure Systems)

But when these systems are closer together, the air must rush to get to the lower pressure.

Stronger systems of either variety can also ramp up those winds.

The closeness and relative strength of these systems is called a pressure gradient. The bigger the difference in pressure between the two systems over smaller spaces, the bigger the pressure gradient is. The bigger the pressure gradient is, the stronger winds will blow.

Weather word: Isobar. No, this isn’t somewhere you can go get a fun drink. These are the white lines of equal pressure that you will often see on our weather maps around a low pressure system. You can see a bunch of them on the maps above and below.

Another way to visualize this gradient is to see how many isobars are packed into a space. The more isobars there are, the tighter the gradient is and the more wind there will be.

Jonathan Belles has been a graphics meteorologist and writer for weather.com for 8 years and also assists in the production of videos for The Weather Channel en español. His favorite weather is tropical weather, but also enjoys covering high-impact weather and news stories and winter storms. He's a two-time graduate of Florida State University and a proud graduate of St. Petersburg College.