Which of the following is a type of wind?

• A. General Wind
• B. Local Wind
• C. Thermal Wind
• D. Tornado Wind

Answer: (A)

Winds are described by scale: the broad, regional flow is known as general wind. This represents the large-scale air movement driven by major pressure gradients and weather systems, and it provides the baseline wind that affects fire behavior over a wide area. Local winds are smaller in scale and shaped by terrain and daily heating, so they modify the general wind but don’t define the wide-area pattern. Thermal wind is a meteorological concept about how wind changes with height due to horizontal temperature differences, not a surface wind type you apply directly in fire spread calculations. Tornado wind refers to the extreme winds within a tornado, a highly localized phenomenon not used as the general wind for planning. So the broad, regional wind—the general wind—is the appropriate type described here.