The wind was howling again yesterday in Iowa prompting the NWS to issue a Wind Advisory for much of the state. The featured map looks at how common these advisories are by plotting the average number of advisories per year by county based on IEM archives. The general northwest to southeast pattern is rather clear with about three times as many issued between the extremes. Why does this difference exist? Local topography and land cover has some impact as western Iowa is flatter along with fewer trees. It is also closer to the "High Plains", which tends to be an area experiencing rapidly developing low pressure systems that help drive strong winds and drier landscapes which help mix deeper depths of the atmosphere (helps to bring stronger winds to the surface).

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Tags:   wind