WW2010
University of Illinois

WW2010
 
  welcome
 
> online guides
 
  archives
 
  educational cd-rom
 
  current weather
 
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  index

Online Guides
 
  introduction
 
  meteorology
 
  remote sensing
 
> reading maps
 
  projects, activities

Reading Maps
 
  introduction
 
  utc conversions
 
  temp conversions
 
> surface obs
 
  surface maps
 
  upper air obs

Surface Obs
 
  overview
 
  temperature
 
  weather
 
  dew points
 
  cloud cover
 
  pressure
 
  winds
 
> contours

Contours
 
  introduction
 
  isobars
 
> wind & isobars
 
  isotherms
 
  isodrosotherms
 
  more contouring

User Interface
 
  graphics
> text

NOTE: We've guessed that you're not using a client that supports colored tables and have tried to compensate. Low graphics mode looks much better on clients that do... we recommend switching to Netscape 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
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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