For example the storm front is moving at 3mph while having 20mph winds. How is that possible?
Answers (2)
In the usual sort of a storm, the winds move in a circle while the center of the circle moves in a straight (sort of) line. It is somewhat unusual for storm winds to move in the same direction as the center of the storm. I am told that the sea of Galilee has cliffs, and air sometimes falls over the cliffs and produces an instant storm with winds and the front being the same thing. But that is the only example I happen to know of.
Planetary Heat Exchangers
Earth’s climate system has been likened to a machine that converts and distributes solar energy. Because the Tropics get most of the sun’s heat, the resulting temperature imbalance sets the atmosphere in motion. Earth’s daily rotation causes this mass of moving, moist air to form eddies, some becoming depressions, or areas of low atmospheric pressure. Depressions, in turn, may develop into storms.
If you observe the general path of tropical storms, you will notice that they tend to move away from the equator—either north or south—toward cooler regions. In doing so, storms also serve as massive heat exchangers, helping to moderate the climate. But when the temperature in the upper level of the ocean—the “boiler room” of the climate machine—exceeds about 80 degrees Fahrenheit [27°C], tropical storms may acquire enough energy to become cyclones, hurricanes, or typhoons—regional names for essentially the same phenomena.
For more information on this subject and others, please go to jw.org "Online Library." Also for free downloads or read online.