Height Pressure and Height Temperature and Height Height Contours Height Questions Vorticity Planetary Vorticity Relative Vorticity Absolute Vorticity Maxes and Mins Convergence and Divergence Advection Vorticity Questions Using the Upper Left Panel Final Questions

Vorticity So why is vorticity important and how is it useful in forecasting the weather? Figure 8 Image originally appeared here. Vorticity is important because it helps drive the weather. Think of an ice skater doing a spin. He starts out with his arms stretched outward. Then he pulls them in and begins to spin faster. At the end, he puts his arms back out again and slows down. Now, think of convergence as being when the skater pulls his arms in and divergence as when he puts them back out. Therefore, an increase in vorticity (spinning faster) is associated with convergence and a decrease in vorticity (spinning slower) is associated with divergence.