On this day in 1781, General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, begins the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War.
Earth's rotation causes the trade winds, in a way. If Earth didn't rotate, the wind at these latitudes would blow straight from the subtropical highs to the ITCZ.n the Northern Hemisphere, the Earth rotates counterclockwise so the wind is deflected to the right. The Southern Hemisphere rotates clockwise deflecting the wind to the left. Regardless, the Coriolis effect only influences the direction of the wind, not its speed.
This is due to two factors: Air in the tropics generally moves in the direction of the equator. Moving air is deflected by the rotation of the Earth. In the northern hemisphere, the deflection is to the right (seen with the wind in the back) and in southern hemisphere, it is to the left.