westerly

The hurricane-force westerly winds will be pushing water inland.

Strong westerly winds “shoved the fire into Wrightwood” when it crossed Highway 2 on Tuesday night, with gusts reaching up to 50 mph, Sherwin said.

Next week, we are back to westerly winds with dry spells and some sunshine, but also showers and longer spells of rain at times, especially in the north and west.

Evidence suggests that during past periods of natural carbon dioxide rise, the westerly winds that play an important role in the circulation of the deep ocean were also strengthening, leading to a rapid release of CO2 from the Southern Ocean.

"We think they are caused by a dramatic collapse of the North American ice sheet. This sets into motion a chain reaction that involves changes to the tropical monsoons, the Southern hemisphere westerly winds and these large burps of CO2 coming out of the oceans."