EARTH
What would happen if Earth began rotating in the opposite direction?
Earth’s rotation affects weather patterns across the planet
© ESA/Hubble & NASA, E. Noyola, ESO/B. Tafreshi (
twanight.org), Getty
Prevailing winds throughout the world would switch direction, with profound consequences on the climate – especially in the midlatitudes. Earth’s rotation has a significant effect on weather patterns throughout the planet because it results in the Coriolis force. Wind flows from high pressure to low pressure, but the Coriolis force deflects this wind to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This is why the windflow around low and high-pressure systems circulates in opposing directions in each hemisphere. If Earth began rotating in the opposite direction, the Coriolis force would deflect the wind to the left in the Northern Hemisphere and to the right in the Southern Hemisphere. The jet stream, a fast-flowing current of air several miles above sea level that helps develop and steer low pressure from the North Atlantic to Northern Europe, would change direction. Northern Europe’s prevailing winds would become easterly rather than westerly. The UK would have a climate similar to Newfoundland, which is at the same latitude. With less of an Atlantic influence, it would be drier and sunnier. Summers would be pleasant, but winters would be brutal, with average temperatures below -10 degrees Celsius.