Hey kids!! Did you know that March is called the Windy Month? Wind can be mysterious, even alarming, like a tornado where wind can blow 300 miles per hour. You cannot see it, but you know it is there when you feel it blow your hair, see leaves shake and see flags move. You can hear it coming when it blows through trees and howls loudly. But what is wind? What makes it blow?
Wind is simply moving air, and that movement is caused by differences in air pressure, which is caused by differences in temperature. Warm air has a lower pressure and wants to rise. As it rises, cooler air, with its higher pressure, moves in and takes its place. This movement of warmer and cooler air is what creates wind.
Winds like the trade winds near the equator, and the polar winds at the North and South Poles almost always blow the same way. But local winds can change directions several times a day, depending on what is happening in the weather around them.
Cape Blanco in Oregon is one of the windiest places on earth. Strong winter storms often create winds that roar through at more than 100 miles per hour. But the honor of the windiest spot in the world belongs to Port Martin in Antarctica where winds there blow at an average of 40 miles per hour the entire year.
People can be like the wind sometimes. They can change their direction depending on what is happening around them or who is standing near them. But you don’t have to change just to fit in. If someone asks you to do or say something you know is wrong, you can stand strong and make a good choice. It’s okay to say, “No thanks—I’m choosing what’s right.” Stay steady and be yourself, no matter which way the wind blows!