Weather Words: Wind Field

In a hurricane, the wind field refers to the area around the storm where strong winds occur. Not just the winds in the center or in the eyewall, but extending outward in all directions.

Think of it as the footprint of the hurricane’s winds across the ocean or land. This field includes the distribution and strength of winds at different distances from the center, which can vary dramatically depending on the storm’s size, structure and motion.

While the strongest winds are typically found near the eyewall, tropical-storm-force and hurricane-force winds can stretch hundreds of miles away, making the wind field a key factor in determining which areas will feel the storm’s impacts.

The shape of a hurricane’s wind field is rarely perfectly symmetrical. Winds often extend farther on one side of the storm — usually the right side in the Northern Hemisphere — due to the combination of the storm’s rotation and its forward motion.

The size of the wind field also helps meteorologists and emergency managers communicate potential impacts. Two storms with the same maximum wind speed can have very different footprints of destruction.

A compact hurricane may cause severe damage in a smaller area, while a large storm with a broad wind field can generate dangerous surf, coastal flooding and power outages over a much wider region. That’s why hurricane forecasts don’t just focus on the peak winds, but also on how far those winds reach.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.