Why do some winds blow constantly, and some blow almost exclusively in gusts? What creates gusts? I know how wind is “made”, but how do gusts happen? If it’s the same thing, just on a smaller scale, wouldn’t it be like that all the time, and not depend on the direction of the wind?
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Air is a fluid and so it helps to visualize it like water. Go down to a stream or pour water down a slope in your garden. The water will pile up behind objects then release in a gush, or a “gust” of water as it overwhelms that object. Now replace the rocks, shrubs, branches etc with buildings, trees etc. there’s also eddies, vortices and other types of air and water flow that cause gusts. These change shape as the landscape changes with wind because trees sway cars move etc. that big delivery truck moving slowly down the street sure changes how air flows between buildings, like dropping a rock in a stream.
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