Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Imagine waking up tomorrow and seeing the sun rise in the west. Something has happened overnight to reverse the Earth’s rotation.
Of course, our planet currently spins at more than 1000 miles per hour. Suddenly putting the brakes on and reversing would have catastrophic impacts. But if you did somehow survive the violent winds, tsunamis and earthquakes and waited for things to settle down, the first thing you’d notice is a change in the weather.
The Earth's rotation means that we experience an apparent force known as the Coriolis force. This deflects the direction of the wind to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere.
A retrograde spinning earth would have retrograde spinning lows, highs, hurricanes and typhoons. Trade winds and jet streams would also reverse. Prevailing westerlies in the midlatitudes would become prevailing easterlies. Apart from being confusing for weather forecasters, how would a global wind reversal affect the long-term climate?
00:00 Violent winds, tsunamis and earthquakes
00:30 Retrograde spinning lows
01:05 7000-year simulation
01:23 Colder UK
01:50 Storm Mediterranean
02:23 Ocean currents
02:43 More forests
03:03 Amazon and the Everglades dry up
Written and presented by Aidan McGivern
Animation by Drive Creative Studio Ltd
Make sure you subscribe so you never miss a single lesson about the weather or climate youtube.com/c/MetOfficeLearnAboutWeather/?sub_confirmation=1
Learn About Weather is not only THE place for you to learn… well… about the weather, but also about our climate, climate change and other Earth Sciences. Did we also mention that it’s brought to you by the Met Office, so you know you are learning from a trusted source!
Imagine waking up tomorrow and seeing the sun rise in the west. Something has happened overnight to reverse the Earth’s rotation.
Of course, our planet currently spins at more than 1000 miles per hour. Suddenly putting the brakes on and reversing would have catastrophic impacts. But if you did somehow survive the violent winds, tsunamis and earthquakes and waited for things to settle down, the first thing you’d notice is a change in the weather.
The Earth's rotation means that we experience an apparent force known as the Coriolis force. This deflects the direction of the wind to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere.
A retrograde spinning earth would have retrograde spinning lows, highs, hurricanes and typhoons. Trade winds and jet streams would also reverse. Prevailing westerlies in the midlatitudes would become prevailing easterlies. Apart from being confusing for weather forecasters, how would a global wind reversal affect the long-term climate?
00:00 Violent winds, tsunamis and earthquakes
00:30 Retrograde spinning lows
01:05 7000-year simulation
01:23 Colder UK
01:50 Storm Mediterranean
02:23 Ocean currents
02:43 More forests
03:03 Amazon and the Everglades dry up
Written and presented by Aidan McGivern
Animation by Drive Creative Studio Ltd
Make sure you subscribe so you never miss a single lesson about the weather or climate youtube.com/c/MetOfficeLearnAboutWeather/?sub_confirmation=1
Learn About Weather is not only THE place for you to learn… well… about the weather, but also about our climate, climate change and other Earth Sciences. Did we also mention that it’s brought to you by the Met Office, so you know you are learning from a trusted source!
