Global Wind Patterns
Your child can explain why the UK's wet weather comes from the west. Large bands of wind circle the globe. Earth's spin bends them, steering weather systems along.
In curriculum terms
Explain that unequal solar heating drives large-scale atmospheric circulation: Hadley cells (0-30°), Ferrel cells (30-60°), and polar cells (60-90°) produce the trade winds, westerlies, and polar easterlies; describe how the Coriolis effect from Earth's rotation deflects winds rightward in the Northern Hemisphere; explain the jet stream as a fast high-altitude wind that steers weather systems; connect jet stream waviness and Arctic amplification to prolonged extreme weather
Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →
Try this together
Can your child explain why the UK tends to get wet weather arriving from the west — what global pattern of winds is steering weather systems, and how does Earth's rotation contribute to this?
Where this sits on the map
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Curriculum alignment
Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.
Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 ACARA · 1 VIC
Australian Curriculum v9 candidate
describe the movement of Earth and other planets relative to the sun and model how Earth’s tilt, rotation on its axis and revolution around the sun relate to cyclic observable phenomena, including variable day and night length
Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only
These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.