Friday, March 11, 2016

Global and Local Winds in El Salvador 


The maximum latitude and longitude for El Salvador is 14.450, -87.690. The minimum latitude and longitude is 13.150. -90.120 (WorldAtlas). The country is located in both the northern and the western hemisphere, within the Hadley atmospheric cell and the Intertropical Convergence zone (high pressure). It resides in the Northeasterly wind belt, making the wind blow Southwest. It is also around 14 degrees south of the Horse latitudes, north of the doldrums. 

El Salvador is located at the very center Intertropical Convergence zone, and because of this you should expect the climate and weather to be generally warm, humid, and lacks a dry season. Clouds will form early in the afternoon, and this is when convectional thunderstorms form and precipitation takes place (Geography). In the rainy season, precipitation usually comes from low pressure over the pacific, and although hurricanes do occasionally form over the pacific, they rarely affect El Salvador. From November to April, the Northeast trade winds dominate the weather pattern. Air flowing from the caribbean  passes over the mountains in Honduras and loses precipitation. By the time it gets to El Salvador it is dry, hot, and hazy, also known as summer (Country Studies). 

This picture was taken from: http://www.johomaps.com/world/world_current_ind.html

El Salvador is a very mountainous region. There are numerous winds and breezes that are associated with mountains, including sea breezes, valley breezes, anabatic winds, katabatic winds, chinook winds, and Foehn winds. El Salvador experiences valley and mountain breezes (Meteorology). It is also located right on the coast of the Pacific ocean, and because of the sea breeze moves in daily with cool moist air.