Winds with Names

More than just a bunch of hot air

Our article about the Chinook winds discussed an unusual meteorological phenomenon, but one thing it didn’t touch on was the peculiarity of a wind having a name in the first place. That strikes me as odd, like a temperature or a humidity level or a barometric pressure having a name. I mean, I get it: we give hurricanes and certain other storms names, and that serves a useful purpose, but just calling the movement of air in a certain way at a certain time by a proper noun seems weird.

Be that as it may, we were able to find quite a few other examples of winds that have names. Here’s a representative sampling—by no means a complete list:

• Bora: A cold, north-eastern katabatic wind that blows along the east coast of the the Adriatic Sea (including Greece, Russia, and Turkey).
• Brickfielder: A hot and dry summer wind in Southern Australia.
• Cape Doctor: A dry south-easterly wind that blows over part of Western Cape Province in South Africa, so named because of its apparent effect of clearing away pollution.
• Chinook: A warm winter wind in the western United States and Canada.
• Fremantle Doctor: A cool summer sea breeze on the coast of Western Australia.
• Halny: A strong, warm föhn wind storm in the Carpathian mountains of Poland and Slovakia.
• Khamsin: A hot, sandy wind in Egypt.
• Mistral: A cold, forceful wind that blows in southern France and into the Mediterranean Sea.
• Santa Ana: A hot, dry wind, usually in autumn, in southern California and northern Mexico.
• Sirocco: A powerful wind that blows from the Sahara through North Africa and Southern Europe.

from Interesting Thing of the Day https://tracking.feedpress.it/link/19120/11403006
via Security Installations Team