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Wind Direction and Isobars
surface maps

Winds flow roughly parallel to the isobars, as depicted in the schematic below.

This relationship is observed on real surface maps.

In the example below, surface observations and isobars (yellow contours) have been plotted. Reports of wind direction from Nebraska into Minnesota, show that the observed wind direction is nearly parallel to the isobars.



isobars
Terms for using data resources. CD-ROM available.
Credits and Acknowledgments for WW2010.
Department of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

isotherms