wind shear
nounDefinition of wind shear
: a radical shift in wind speed and direction that occurs over a very short distance
Examples of wind shear in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project also noted the prevalence of vertical wind shear. — Brett Clarkson, sun-sentinel.com, "This year’s hurricane season is quieter than usual, but not by much," 23 Aug. 2019 Those factors can include high wind shear, which can break up the storm or slow it down by blasting it with dry air. — National Geographic, "Super Typhoon, Hurricane: What's the Difference?," 8 Aug. 2019 Tropical storms and hurricanes love to form in environments with warm ocean temperatures and low values of upper-level wind shear, or changing winds with altitude. — Greg Porter, Washington Post, "El Niño is likely coming back and may make our summer even more muggy," 15 June 2018 The final factor at play was strong wind shear, the change in wind speed and direction with height that helps sustain and grow severe thunderstorms. — Chris Bianchi, The Denver Post, "Recapping a wild week of Colorado weather," 17 Aug. 2019 One of the major causes of clear air turbulence is wind shear, which occurs when winds vary in speed or direction with height. — Andrew Freedman, Anchorage Daily News, "Buckle up: Climate change is already contributing to bumpier North Atlantic flights, study finds," 7 Aug. 2019 This is called wind shear and is a primary component of severe weather. — Dave Epstein, BostonGlobe.com, "Yes, these were strong EF-1 tornadoes spawned from a supercell thunderstorm," 24 July 2019 The culprit is wind shear, which is when two huge air masses close to each other are moving at different speeds. — Malcolm Ritter, chicagotribune.com, "‘Clear-air turbulence’ like what likely hit Air Canada flight can strike without warning," 12 July 2019 The recipe for tornadoes always includes heat, humidity and wind shear. — Meg Jones, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "What to know about the F5 tornado that destroyed 90% of a Wisconsin town in 1984," 29 May 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wind shear.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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