Convection Currents and Wind?

Question

If convection currents are important in explaining weather patterns, how is wind created

Answer 1

Wind is the direct result of convection currents. Warm air rises, cold air sinks. As the sun heats up the earth there is a difference in the way the air above land and sea heat up (water is much better at retaining heat than land). Air over the land rises and cooler air moves in from the sea (wind) this air then also heats up and rises. Air cools as it gets higher and so drops again over the sea starting the whole cycle.      

Answer 2

The wind at a place is not always steady.The rapid fluctuations in wind is called gusts and lulls.Gusts are the sudden increase in wind speed whereas  the lulls are  the sudden drops in wind speed.These gusts and lulls are caused by turbulence in the atmosphere.

In turbulence(particularly in thermal turbulence),air layers ,when they are subjected to intense solar heating close to the ground,ascend due to buoyancy,and the convectional currents that are set up,if sufficiently strong,produce turbulent fluctuations which appear as gusts and lulls in

the horizontal wind on  hot summer days especially during afternoon.

Alternatively,when hot air rises at a place due to convection, a small low pressure area is created and the air surrounding the area rushes  to replace the rising air.The rising air expands at higher levels ,travels horizontally at that level and sinks at another place(particularly over a high pressure area) and again rushes towards the low pressure area at ground level to  complete a  wind cycle.Thus convections are sometimes the cause for horizontal winds.