Moving air - wind is not really anything else. The atmosphere's constant efforts to equalise (pressure) ensure that we windsurfers are supplied with our staple food - the wind. The whole thing is actually very simple. The air flows from high pressure to low pressure, and the greater the pressure differences, the faster the air moves - in other words, the stronger the wind.
But this simple little game has a number of participants that influence the course of events. The sun plays a particularly important role. In addition, the water in lakes and in the sea - mountains, deserts and, last but not least, the rotation of the earth turn this simple game into a similarly complicated affair as cricket. You have to be a proven specialist to understand the rules, both those of the formation of the winds and those of cricket.
To give you a better overview - at least as far as the weather is concerned - we collected all the knowledge about the world's most important wind systems for you some time ago in this wind special. We also explain the distribution area, which factors strengthen or disrupt the winds, from their origin to disruptive factors and strengthening. With the knowledge about winds and their formation, you can save yourself many an "empty stroke" to the spot in future.
- The west wind
- The east wind on the Baltic Sea
- Ora and Vento on Lake Garda
- The foehn in the Alps
- The Meltemi in Greece
- The bora in Croatia
- The sirocco in the central Mediterranean
- The mistral in the south of France
- The Tramontana in the northern Mediterranean
- The Levante in southern Spain
- The trade wind zone
- The roots of the trade winds
- Core trade wind - In the centre of the trade wind
- Passat run-off zone - The end of the Passat
- Interview: Climate researcher Dr Michael Sachweh - "Chasing storms is my passion"
- Windfinder: How wind forecasts are created, the difference between forecast and super-forecast
Wind knowledge from weather expert Dr Michael Sachweh
As far as we know, Dr Michael Sachweh has no idea about cricket either. But he knows all the more about wind and weather. He is a meteorologist specialising in maritime and regional climatology - as well as extreme weather: he loves tracking tornadoes. He wrote numerous articles for surf magazine back in the nineties and did the "fax weather" - the older ones of you may remember. You could have the weekend wind forecast for your home spot delivered by fax call via a chargeable telephone number - shortly afterwards someone invented the internet...
Michael Sachweh is a passionate sailor, having crossed the Atlantic in the ARC ocean race, among others. He is a book author - including one about his passion "Storm Chasing" - produces weather forecasts for Bayerischer Rundfunk and advises event agencies before major events with his private weather service. He shares his knowledge with us in this wind special. In the interview, Michael Sachweh describes how the winds have changed in recent decades - and why. However, the climate researcher does not answer one question: How will the wind develop in the future? We also asked Jonas Kaufmann how Windfinder produces its forecasts!
You can also order the entire Wind Special as a booklet in the Delius Klasing shop!
