can wind be strong but not fast, or is fast and strong the same?

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can wind be strong but not fast, or is fast and strong the same?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Yes in principle, but not much in practice here on the surface of the Earth without changing altitude.

The force applied by a wind is (at least at low speeds) roughly proportional to its density times its speed squared. So to make the force vary, you need to make one of those terms vary. But here on the surface of the Earth, the density doesn’t vary that much. The lowest pressure (and thus density) ever recorded on the surface of the Earth was at the core of Typhoon Tip, the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded. In Tip’s eye, the atmosphere was about 13% less dense than usual. The highest pressure (and thus density) ever recorded was about 7% *more* dense than usual, near the Dead Sea. So the density of air at sea level varies by at most about 20%.

That said: you can go higher! On top of a high mountain, half of the air is gone, so you will indeed feel significantly less force from a wind on a mountaintop. (That said, the wind speeds also tend to be a lot higher on mountaintops.)

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