As today’s West-northwest winds reach Force seven, have you ever thought about the reason as to why the westerlies winds are the most commons winds in Malta and Gozo?

The weather station, ‘Maltese Islands Weather’ has posted an explanation as to why this happens.

The North-westerly wind, together with the winds from the West Northwest and the North Northwest, make up the most common wind directions in our country.

The reason for this is because Malta is found at a latitude of 35° N which means Malta is located within the Westerlies region.

This region is characterised by a belt of strong and gusty winds hence why weather like today is more common that we would like.

These winds originate form the high pressure that forms at a 30 degrees latitude which is “created by subsiding air at the permanent zone of high pressure over the Sahara Desert”.

Nonetheless, some of the subsiding air is deflected to the pole as the earth is rotating. This creates the warm westerlies. This is commonly known as the Coriolis effect.

The West-Southwest winds are however fairly uncommon. This is largely due to the fact that Malta is very close to Africa. Malta’s “vast tract of open sea to the north-west” also prevent such winds from becoming a common occurrence on the islands.

‘Maltese Islands Weather’ than goes into further detail as to why Westerly winds are very common in Malta and Gozo.

This is mainly a result of the North Atlantic oscillation which is defined “by the fluctuations in atmospheric pressure between the Icelandic low and Azores high, and the interaction between them”.

“These are two extensive semi-permanent low and high pressure systems in the North Atlantic. It is the interaction between these two pressure systems which controls the direction and strength of the westerly winds in Europe”, the post continued.

“Air within and around the Azores high is circulated in a clockwise manner. Conversely, air within and around the Icelandic low is circulated in an anticlockwise manner. Both direct air out in a westerly direction”.

“The main point of interaction between these two pressure systems is at a higher latitude than the Maltese Islands, in such a way that air being directed out of the oscillation blows across the central Mediterranean from a North-westerly direction”, the post concluded.

Did you know all this?