The Trade Winds - culture corner

[RichardCranium]

Tramontana. Another dry cool northerly wind in the Mediterranean.

[RichardCranium]

Zephyr (where the car gets its name from)

Which was a Ford, unlike the Volkswagen Sirocco (or Scirocco).

As a depression moves into the central Mediterranean a strong southerly wind can develop ahead of it near North Africa, which can be very hot and dry and carry dust. If the conditions are right these winds move across the Mediterranean pick up moisture from the sea and by the time they reach Europe they bring warm, humid air and low cloud.

[threaded]

The Föhn Wind from the Alps. Ja!

Oddly enough up in Scandinavia they don't use that name any more, although they used to, as it changed meaning and now means 'hair drier'.

[RichardCranium]

Wasn't someone talking about cloud blowing onland a few months back? Was it the Helm - strong, gusty and cold wind that blows from the north east onto the western slopes of the Crossfell range in Cumbria.

It's particularly common in late winter and spring, it leaves a thick bank of cloud around the range, also called 'the helm'.

[RichardCranium]

I have been cheating.

Berg
A hot dry wind in South Africa that blows from the interior.

Bora
The Bora forms in a similar way to the Mistral and blows across the northern Adriatic. It starts when cold air collects over Yugoslavia, mainly during the winter, and spills over the high mountain passes. This north-easterly wind can reach speeds of 100mph causing extensive damage and disruption to the water traffic in Venice.

Brickfielder
A very hot north-east wind in south-east Australia, that blows during the summer months and carrys dust and sand.

Buran
A strong north-easterly wind that affects parts of the Soviet Union and central Asia. In winter it is often the harbinger of blizzards.

Gregale
A strong wind mainly associated with the cool season in the south and central Mediterranean that blows from the northeast.

Habob
A sandstorm wind in northern Sudan and is most common in the afternoon or evening. From the Arabic Haab, meaning to blow.

Harmattan
A dry, cool wind from the north-east or east in north-west Africa. Although it carries dust, on occasions sufficient to cause thick hazes, its welcome coolness has earned it the nickname 'doctor' in its tropical home.

Horses latitudes
Belts of light and variable winds in the subtropics at about 35° latitude; so-called because in these becalmed spots, sailors used to have to throw their horses overboard that were dying from thirst.

Khamsin
A hot, dry southerly wind that blows from the interior of Africa over Egypt and into the eastern Mediterranean. It is a dust laden wind which devastates crops and is feared by the locals. It is common in late spring and early summer.

Levanter
An easterly wind in the Straits of Gibraltar. Strong and common in the summer.

Leveche
A dry and hot southerly wind in south-east Spain that heralds an advancing depression.

Libeccio
A gusty south westerly wind in the Mediterranean. It is most common in winter.

Marin
As the Sirocco moves across the sea it picks up a lot of moisture. It can blow into the south coast of France as a strong warm and wet wind called the Marin.

Mistral
The Mistral usually develops as a cold front moving down across France, piling up the air in the Alps, before spilling over the top and rushing down the Rhône valley between the Alps and Cevenes. It can reach speeds of up to 93mph towards the French Riviera and the Gulf of Lyon. Marseilles and St.Tropez often take the full brunt of this cold, strong wind as it finally reaches the sea. It usually brings dry, but colder and sunnier weather and is likely to cause heavy seas, making it a surfer's paradise.

Pampero
A very cold south westerly wind from the Andes that sweeps across the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay. It is often accompanied by storms and a severe drop in temperature.

Reshabar
A very gusty, strong wind, that blows north easterly in southern Kurdistan. It is dry and warm in summer, but cold in winter.

Seistan
A very strong summer wind from the north in eastern Iran, known as the 'wind of 120 days' as it lasts about four months. It can reach hurricane force and carries dust.

Shamal
Another summer wind, a north-westerly, blowing over Iraq and the Persian Gulf. It normally decreases at night, and is hot and dry. It is known to whip up the sand and reduce the visibility to a few 100 metres.

Simoon
A short-lived wind in the Arabic deserts, hot and oppressive, often causing the body to overheat because one cannot perspire quickly enough. It can appear as a whirlwind carrying dust.

Southerly Buster
A name given by Australians to sudden changes of wind in the south and south-east of the country. The wind change is normally north-westerly to southerly and comes with a sudden drop in temperature.

Vendavales
In late autumn through the winter, as Atlantic depressions enter the western side of the Mediterranean, strong south-westerly winds blow in the straits of Gibraltar. This wind is known as the Vendavales and is associated with very squally weather with thunderstorms.

[EternalOptimist]

Wasn't someone talking about cloud blowing onland a few months back? Was it the Helm - strong, gusty and cold wind that blows from the north east onto the western slopes of the Crossfell range in Cumbria.

It's particularly common in late winter and spring, it leaves a thick bank of cloud around the range, also called 'the helm'.

Up on that coast , they call the wind 'lazy'. It can't be bothered to go around you, it just goes right through you

[pzz76077]

The 11 most famous winds in the world.

* Bora: Adriatic, Greece, Russia, Turkey
* Brickfielder: Australia
* Chinook: Western USA and Canada
* Föhn: Central Europe (the Alps)
* Halny: Carpathian mountains
* Hamsin: Middle East
* Harmattan: West Africa
* Mistral: Southern France and Italy
* Monsoon: South Asia
* Santa Ana: Southern California
* Sirocco: North Africa and Southern Europe


PZZ

[RichardCranium]

I have heard some incredible accounts about the incredible winds that sweep across Antarctica form people that have been out in them.

Link.

Katabatic Winds
The cold dense mass of air that slides down a mountainside under gravity to the valley below is called a katabatic wind.

One of the most famous katabatic winds is the Mistral.

In the UK the weather situation that gives rise to most katabatic winds, is when a large slow moving high pressure, or anticyclone, sits over the country in late autumn, winter or early spring.

When this happens, especially with clear skies at night, the Earth loses a lot of its heat to space and the temperature falls quickly.

Imagine this happening in a Scottish or Welsh mountain valley. As the night goes by, the air close to the ground gets colder and colder, and often ends up as a large pool of cold dense air. This can then spill over the side of the mountain where gravity takes over. This cold wind drains down the mountainside to the valley below as a cold katabatic wind.

In this country these katabatic winds are generally quite light, in the order of five to ten mph, but around the world they can be very much stronger.

The most famous katabatic wind in Europe is the Mistral, which blows down the Rhône valley in southern France and out into the Mediterranean. It can become a very strong wind reaching speeds of 80 miles an hour as it funnels down over the Rhône delta and is generally at its strongest in winter and early spring.

But one of the strongest katabatic winds we experience on this planet blows in the Antarctic. Here the lowest layers of the air, sitting on some of the high plateaux, come into contact with the cold dense ice sheet. The air cools to very low temperatures and spills over the mountain ridges as a katabatic wind.

These Antarctic winds have been measured at over 200 miles and hour and are some of the strongest winds measured on our planet at ground level, outside those in some tornadoes.

[EternalOptimist]

I have been cheating.

ah, well thats why the story is important. It puts the googlers and the phonies back in their box. Confession is good for the soul though, so you are forgiven

[RichardCranium]

I'm currently on antibiotics. Last night and a couple of nights ago I had a skinful of live homebrew.

The consequences the next day - especially this morning - were gurgly, violent, tumultuous and more than a little breezy. And noxious.

That was (and still is, although disipated somewhat) a wind that could have done with a name of its own.

Something like the Spanish for "Devil's Breath" might be good.