First Alert Weather In-Depth: The winds of change on Election Day

At this time of year, whether the temperature is up or down, Rochester can experience rapid changes. This is usually the battle between the seasons, and a symptom of those temperature changes can be higher wind speeds.

The wind speeds at the Rochester Airport over the last 30 days show nothing excessive, but we did have a couple of instances when the wind gusted to nearly 35 miles per hour.  Looking ahead in time, the forecast is that the News10NBC First Alert meteorologists believe there will be more opportunities for gusty winds.

An example is the surface weather map for the next 24 hours. It shows a high-pressure system along the East Coast and a low-pressure system through the upper Great Lakes.  It’s the difference in atmospheric pressure between these weather systems that can be a driving force for the wind. That surface map also shows white lines encircling these weather systems and they represent isobars or lines of equal pressure. When those lines are tightly packed together it signifies a significant difference in the atmospheric pressure from one location to another. Weak and less intense weather systems have fairly weak winds, but a strong or intense weather system creates a much greater pressure gradient. This is similar to a cold container of unopened soda pop.  As you open that container, you hear the “whooshing” sound as the pressure equalizes. That is the same principle that drives these large-scale wind patterns in our atmosphere.

The wind for Tuesday will gust to near 35 miles per hour along with some warmer weather.  We can say the “winds of change” will be blowing across Western New York for Election Day and question whether is it a political wind or an atmospheric wind. Stay tuned to News10NBC.