Editing Wind speed (section)

{{Short description|Rate at which air moves from high- to low-pressure areas}}
{{Distinguish|Airspeed (disambiguation){{!}}Airspeed}}

[[File:Weather Station at Feilding Waste Water Treatment Plant.JPG|thumb|240px|An [[anemometer]] is commonly used to measure wind speed.]]

[[File:Wind wiki.png|thumb|Global distribution of wind speed at 10m above ground averaged over the years 1981–2010 from the CHELSA-BIOCLIM+ data set<ref>Brun, P., Zimmermann, N.E., Hari, C., Pellissier, L., Karger, D.N. (preprint): Global climate-related predictors at kilometre resolution for the past and future. Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-212</ref>]]

In [[meteorology]], '''wind speed''', or [[wind]] [[flow speed]], is a fundamental [[atmosphere|atmospheric]] quantity caused by air moving from [[high-pressure area|high]] to [[low-pressure area|low pressure]], usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an [[anemometer]].

Wind speed affects [[weather forecasting]], [[aviation]] and [[maritime transport|maritime]] operations, [[construction]] projects, growth and [[metabolism]] rates of many plant species, and has countless other implications.<ref>{{cite book |first=C. Michael |last=Hogan |year=2010 |url=http://www.eoearth.org/article/Abiotic_factor?topic=49461 |entry=Abiotic factor |title=Encyclopedia of Earth |editor1=Emily Monosson |editor2=C. Cleveland |publisher=[[National Council for Science and the Environment]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608071757/http://www.eoearth.org/article/Abiotic_factor?topic=49461 |archive-date=2013-06-08 |location=Washington D.C.}}</ref> [[Wind direction]] is usually almost parallel to [[isobar (meteorology)|isobars]] (and not perpendicular, as one might expect), due to [[Earth's rotation]].