If your weather bulletin shows the center of a low-pressure area to be 100 miles due east of your position, what winds can you expect in the Northern Hemisphere?
• Buys Ballot’s Law in the Northern Hemisphere (stand with your back to the wind; low pressure is on your left) • Wind circulation around a low-pressure system in the Northern Hemisphere (counterclockwise and inward) • Your vessel’s position west of the low center when it is reported 100 miles due east
• If the low is due east of you, where is the low relative to the direction the wind will come from at your position? • Using Buys Ballot’s Law, if you face the low, from which side does the wind normally approach in the Northern Hemisphere? • How do winds flow around a low (clockwise or counterclockwise), and what does that imply for the wind direction at a point to the west of the low center?
• Confirm that in the Northern Hemisphere, winds around a low blow counterclockwise and toward the center • Verify your mental sketch: place the low to the right (east) of your position and draw arrows for wind flow around the low • Check which answer choice matches the wind direction that would strike a vessel west of a counterclockwise, inward-spiraling low center
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