Glossary · Weather & oceans
Depression
Also called: Dépression, low, basse pression, système dépressionnaire, tempête
An area of low atmospheric pressure, bringing strong wind and bad weather.
Around a depression, the wind turns anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. The lower the pressure and the tighter the isobars, the stronger the wind.
Offshore racers use them as an engine: well placed, they ride their flow; badly placed, they face headwinds and dangerous seas. In the Southern Ocean they follow each other from west to east.
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