Land Breezes



At night, the land cools more quickly than adjacent water, causing a high pressure area over the land and a relatively lower pressure area over the water. With the higher pressure over land, the wind blows from the land out over the water, producing a land breeze. Since temperature differences are smaller between land and sea at night than during the day (when sea breezes blow), land breezes tend to be weaker than sea breezes.

A typical scenario for land breezes at NASP is:

1) Between midnight and 0800-0900 local, the land is cooler then water and a land breeze sets up as winds drain from the NNW-NE 3-5 knots.
 
 2) When the land warms to above the bay temperatures (generally 0930-1030 local) the wind shifts to the SE, 120-160 degrees, at 5-8 knots.

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