Global and Local Winds in Germany

Located in the northern hemisphere, Germany has a minimum latitude of 47.27, and a maximum of 55.05, with a minimum Longitude of 5.87 and a maximum of 15.03. Global wind circulation is modeled to have three different "cells", the Hadley cell, the Ferrell Cell, and the Polar cell. Of these three, Germany lies in the Ferrell Cell, which lies at the latitudes between 30 and 60. The geographic location of Germany also means that it is right in the middle of the westerlies wind belt. This means that the prevailing winds blow from the west to the east and northeast. Germany is located near the polar front, which occurs around the 50-60th latitude degrees, which is not near the subtropical high or equatorial low belts, but is still a low pressure belt.

we know about Germany's location in relation to the Ferrell Cell, the Polar front, low pressure belt and westerlies. Based off of this, there are many predictions we can make about weather and climate conditions. The low pressure belt can bring showers, thunderstorms and heavy rain, which can be somewhat unpleasant. Because of its location in the Ferrell Cell, net air surface flow is rising towards the north pole, and causes wind to blow from the west, albeit more sporadically than trade winds. The flow of cold air to the north keeps most of northern Germany at a moderate, comfortable temperature.


There are many varieties of winds that are brought on by mountains, including Valley Breezes, Mountain Breezes, Katabatic winds, Foehn winds and the Santa Ana winds. Germany of course, has many mountains, with the highest ones lying in the state of Bavaria. There are the Alps, Bavarian Alps, Northern Limestone Alps and the Wetterstein mountains. As a result of these mountains, Germany does experience several of the above winds,  including the foehn wind, which is actually a word of German origin. Germany also often experiences valley and mountain breezes. Winds don't only come from the mountains however, as there are two types of breezes that may be experienced by countries that have coastlines; sea breezes, and land breezes. Germany has one coastline on the northern side, and can experience both land and see breezes throughout the year.