Chinook Wind
Chinook winds ( /ʃɪˈnʊk/), often called chinooks, commonly refers to foehn winds in the interior West of North America, where the Canadian Prairies and Great Plains meet various mountain ranges, although the original usage is in reference to wet, warm coastal winds in the Pacific Northwest.
Chinook is claimed by popular folk-etymology to mean "eater", but it is really the name of the people in the region where the usage was first derived. The reference to a wind or weather system, simply "a Chinook", originally meant a warming wind from the ocean into the interior regions of the Pacific Northwest (the Chinook people lived near the ocean, along the lower Columbia River). A strong Chinook can make snow one foot deep almost vanish in one day. The snow partly melts and partly evaporates in the dry wind. Chinook winds have been observed to raise winter temperature, often from below -20°C (-4°F) to as high as 10-20°C (50-68°F) for a few hours or days, then temperatures plummet to their base levels. The greatest recorded temperature change in 24 hours was caused by Chinook winds on January 15, 1972, in Loma, Montana; the temperature rose from -48 to 9°C (-54 to 48°F).
Read more about Chinook Wind: In Canada, Chinooks Versus The Arctic Air Mass, Chinook Arch, How Chinooks Occur, The Manyberries Chinook, The Chinook in The Pacific Northwest, Pronunciation in The Pacific Northwest, First Nations Myth of BC, Gardening, Health, Folklore, Records, Chinook and Foehn Wind in The United States
Famous quotes containing the words chinook and/or wind:
“The first man to discover Chinook salmon in the Columbia, caught 264 in a day and carried them across the river by walking on the backs of other fish. His greatest feat, however, was learning the Chinook jargon in 15 minutes from listening to salmon talk.”
—State of Oregon, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
““The wind doth blow today, my love,”
And a few small drops of rain;
I never had but one true love,
In cold grave she was lain.”
—Unknown. The Unquiet Grave (l. 1–4)