Adiabatic warming of downward moving air produces the warm Chinook wind

Chinook winds, often just called chinooks, are Föhn winds^[1] in the interior West of North America, where the Canadian Prairies and Great Plains meet various mountain ranges. Southwest of the mountains, on the British Columbia Coast and in the Puget Sound area, it is a warm, very wet, southwesterly wind, likely to bring rain or snow. Northeast of the mountains, it is warm and dry, after being stripped of its moisture by the mountains in its path. Chinook has several meanings: The Chinookan nation of Native Americans, and their language. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A föhn wind or foehn wind occurs when a deep layer of prevailing wind is forced over a mountain range (Orographic lifting). ... North America North America is a continent [1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... Map of the Canadian Prairie provinces, which include boreal forests, taiga, and mountains as well as the prairies (proper). ... For other uses, see Great Plains (disambiguation). ... The British Columbia Coast is one of Canadas two continental coastlines; the other being the coastline from the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean via the Northwest Passage and Hudson Bay to the Ungava Peninsula and Labrador and the Gulf of St. ... Puget Sound For the university in this region, see University of Puget Sound. ... This article is about precipitation. ... For other uses, see Snow (disambiguation). ...

Chinook winds are so named because they come from the country of the Chinook Native Americans: the lower Columbia River, west of the Rocky Mountains. The term originated in the local argot of the fur trade, which spread it to the prairies. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the people indigenous to the United States. ... The Columbia River (French: fleuve Columbia) is a river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. ... For individual mountains named Rocky Mountain, see Rocky Mountain (disambiguation). ... Argot (French for slang) is primarily slang used by various groups, including but not limited to thieves and other criminals, to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. ... An Alberta fur trader in the 1890s. ...

A popular myth is that Chinook means "snow eater", as 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°C to 20°C (50°F to 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°C (-56°F) to 9°C (49°F). For other uses, see Winter (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Temperature (disambiguation). ... Loma is a census-designated place located in Chouteau County, Montana. ...

The <ch> digraph in Chinook is pronounced as in the word "church" in some regions of the Pacific Coast, but as in French (i.e., shinook) in other regions of the Pacific Coast (e.g. Seattle) and on the prairies. This is because the French-speaking voyageurs of the fur companies brought the term from the mountains. Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

In Alberta

Where chinooks occur most frequently

Chinooks are most prevalent over southern Alberta in Canada, especially in a belt from Pincher Creek and Crowsnest Pass through Lethbridge, which get 30 to 35 chinook days per year on average. Chinooks become less frequent further south in the United States, and are not as common north of Red Deer, but occur as far north as Grande Prairie in northwestern Alberta and Fort St. John in northeastern British Columbia, and as far south as Albuquerque, New Mexico Image File history File links where Chinooks occur most frequently File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links where Chinooks occur most frequently File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For other uses, see Alberta (disambiguation). ... Pincher Creek is a town in the southwest of Alberta, Canada. ... The Municipality of Crowsnest Pass consists of six towns (from east to west): Bellview, Hillcrest, Frank, Blairmore, Coleman, and Crowsnest. ... Lethbridge is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. ... For other uses, see Red Deer. ... Grand Prairie is a city in Texas, U.S.A. Grande Prairie (55°11&#8242;N, 118°53&#8242;W MST) is the chief city of the province of Albertas northwest section. ... Fort Saint John (more common spelling Fort St. ... Motto: Splendor sine occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Official languages English (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 36 Senate seats 6 Confederation July 20, 1871 (6th province) Area  Ranked 5th Total 944... “Albuquerque” redirects here. ...

In winters since the 1980s, chinooks and warmer weather have all but banished winter to just a few spells of sharp cold of one or two weeks, and some midwinter months have averaged high temperatures over 5°C (41°F), similar to the West Coast of British Columbia, where Canada's warmest winters are found. Motto: Splendor sine occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Official languages English (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 36 Senate seats 6 Confederation July 20, 1871 (6th province) Area  Ranked 5th Total 944...

In southern Alberta, most of the winter can be spent with little or no snow on the ground. In Calgary, there is snow about 59% of the time on Christmas, compared to 88% for Edmonton.^[2]. In Canada, only the West Coast of British Columbia and southern Ontario have fewer white Christmases than southern Alberta. Calgary is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. ... Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta, situated in the north central region of the province, an area with some of the most fertile farm land on the prairies. ... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Official languages English (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor David C. Onley Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 107 Senate seats 24 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st) Area...

In Lethbridge, Chinook winds can gust in excess of hurricane force (120 km/h or 75 mph), strong enough to shatter car windows through air pressure differential.^{[citation needed]} On November 19, 1962, an especially powerful chinook there gusted to 171 km/h (107 mph). This article is about weather phenomena. ...

In Pincher Creek, the temperature rose by 41°C (from -19°C to 22°C) in one hour in 1962.^[3] Also, trains have been known to be derailed by chinook winds there. Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Calgary is also well known for getting many chinooks, as the Bow Valley in the Canadian Rockies west of the city acts as a natural wind tunnel funneling the chinook winds. This article is about the Canadian city. ... The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. ...

In February 1992, Claresholm, Alberta hit 24°C (75°F) — one of Canada's highest February temperatures. Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... Claresholm is a small community located about midway between Calgary and Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada along Highway 2. ...

Chinooks versus the Arctic air mass

In mid-winter, the chinook can seem to do battle with the Arctic air mass at times. It is not unheard of for people in Lethbridge to complain of −20°C (−4°F) temperatures while those in Cardston, just 77 kilometers (48 miles) down the road, enjoy +10°C (50°F) temperatures in shorts and T-shirts. This clash of temperatures can remain stationary, or move back and forth, in the latter case causing such fluctuations as a warm morning, a bitterly cold afternoon, and a warm evening. A curtain of fog often accompanies the clash between warm to the west and cold to the east. In meteorology, an air mass is a large volume of air having fairly uniform characteristics of temperature, atmospheric pressure, and water vapor content. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

It has been reported on a local TV historical program^[specify] that many years ago Cardston once reported a curtain of fog remaining over Main Street for many hours. The west side of town was balmy with melting snow, while the east side of town was bitterly cold.^{[citation needed]}

In Calgary, recent winters have seen situations where the airport in the northeast part of the city is reporting around −20°C (−4°F) and the southwest part of the city is sitting at +7°C (45°F).^{[citation needed]}

Chinook arch

One of the most striking features of the chinook is the chinook arch, which is a band of stationary stratus clouds caused by air rippling over the mountains due to orographic lifting. To those unfamiliar with the chinook, the chinook arch may look like a threatening storm cloud at times. However, they rarely produce rain or snow. They can also create stunning sunrises and sunsets. For other uses, see Stratus. ... This wave cloud pattern formed off of the ÃŽle Amsterdam in the far southern Indian Ocean, due to orographic lift of an airmass by the island, producing alternating bands of condensed and invisible humidity downwind of the island as the moist air moves in vertical waves and the moisture successively...

The stunning colors seen in the chinook arch are quite common. Typically the colors will change throughout the day, starting with yellow, orange, red and pink shades in the morning as the sun comes up, gray shades in the mid day changing to pink/red colors, and then orange/yellow hues just before the sun sets.

Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 100 pixelsFull resolution (3543 × 441 pixel, file size: 599 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Other versions None File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Chinook wind ... Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. ...

How chinooks occur

The eastern-slope chinook phenomenon is a Föhn wind that results from the movement of high and low pressure systems over the Rocky Mountains^[4][5]. As the wind moves over and through the mountains, the moisture in the air condenses and falls out as precipitation, warming the air by releasing latent heat. Then the air is warmed and dried^[6] by adiabatic compression as the air descends the leeward side of the mountain range.^[7] A föhn wind or foehn wind occurs when a deep layer of prevailing wind is forced over a mountain range (Orographic lifting). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Anticyclone. ... A large low-pressure system swirls off the southwestern coast of Iceland, illustrating the maxim that nature abhors a vacuum. ... For individual mountains named Rocky Mountain, see Rocky Mountain (disambiguation). ... In thermochemistry, latent heat is the amount of energy in the form of heat released or absorbed by a substance during a change of phase (i. ... In thermodynamics, an adiabatic process or an isocaloric process is a thermodynamic process in which no heat is transferred to or from the working fluid. ...

Warm air descending the slope can also displace an existing cold, moist air mass, enhancing the temperature increase and moisture decrease observed with the Chinook.^[7]

The turbulence of the high winds also can prevent the normal nocturnal temperature inversion from forming on the lee side of the slope, allowing nighttime temperatures to remain elevated.^[7]

Quite often, when the West Coast is being hammered by rain, the windward side of the Rockies is being hammered by snow (as the air loses its moisture), and the leeward side of the Rockies in Alberta is basking in a chinook. Windward is the direction from which the wind is blowing at the time in question. ... The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. ... Windward is the direction from which the wind is blowing at the time in question. ...

Two common cloud patterns seen during this time are:

• A chinook arch overhead

and/or

• A bank of clouds (also referred to as a cloud wall) obscuring the mountains to the west. It would appear to be an approaching storm, but it does not advance any further east.

The Manyberries chinook

Often, a chinook is preceded by a "Manyberries chinook" during the end of a cold spell. This southeast wind (named for a small village, now a hamlet, in southeastern Alberta, from where the wind seems to originate) can be fairly strong and cause bitter windchill and blowing snow. The wind will eventually swing around to the southwest and the temperature rises sharply as the real chinook arrives. Wind chill is the apparent temperature felt on the exposed human (or animal) body due to the combination of air temperature and wind speed. ...

The Chinook in British Columbia

The term Chinook Wind is also used in British Columbia, but there it refers to the same winds before they are dried out by the successive ranges of mountains between the Coast and Alberta. Such winds are extremely wet and warm and come from the southwest, and are also known as the Pineapple Express since they are of subtropical origin, roughly from the area of Hawaii; in the days of the sailing ships vessels carrying fresh fruit from Hawaii reached Vancouver, Seattle and Portland in record time, hence the name Pineapple Express — which also applies because of the wind's warmth, which is a blessing in winter. The air associated with a west coast Chinook is stable; this minimizes wind gusts and often keeps winds light in sheltered areas. In exposed areas, fresh gales are frequent during a Chinook, but strong gale or storm force winds are uncommon (most of the region's stormy winds come when a fast westerly jet stream lets air masses from temperate and subarctic latitudes clash). Motto: Splendor sine occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Official languages English (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 36 Senate seats 6 Confederation July 20, 1871 (6th province) Area  Ranked 5th Total 944... For other uses, see Alberta (disambiguation). ... This article is about the tropical jet stream. ... This article refers to the city in British Columbia, Canada. ... Seattle redirects here. ... Nickname: Location of Portland in Multnomah County and the state of Oregon Coordinates: , Country State Counties Multnomah County Incorporated February 8, 1851 Government  - Mayor Tom Potter[1]  - Commissioners Sam Adams Randy Leonard Dan Saltzman Erik Sten  - Auditor Gary Blackmer Area  - Total 376. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Typically a weatherman in Vancouver might say "the Chinook is going to last for another five days, so expect heavy rain for the next week. The mountains [i.e. for skiing] will be rainy to the alpine, so expect lots of slush on the slopes." But when a Chinook comes in when an Arctic air mass is holding steady over the Coast, the tropical damp brought in suddenly cools and falls, penetrating the frozen air and coming down in volumes of powder, sometimes to sea level. Snowfalls and the cold spells that spawned them only last a few days during a Chinook, as the weather blows in from the southwest and rains out the snow, which melts quickly and is gone within a week.

The effects on the Interior of the province when a Chinook is in effect are the reverse. In a rainy spell, most of the heavy moisture will be soaked out by the ramparts of mountains before the air mass reaches the Canyon and the Thompson River-Okanagan area. The effects are similar to those of an Alberta Chinook, though not to the same extreme, in part because the Okanagan is relatively warmer than the Prairies, and because of the additional number of precipitation-catching mountain ranges in between Kelowna and Calgary. And when the Chinook brings snow on the Coast during a period of coastal cold, bright but chilly weather in the Interior will give way to a slushy melting of snow because of the warm spell more than because of rain. View of Fraser Canyon near Fountain, BC View of Fraser Canyon looking upstream from Fountain, B.C. The Fraser Canyon is a stretch of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains enroute from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser... The Thompson River is a major tributary of the Fraser River in the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. ... A view overlooking Skaha Lake in the Okanagan Valley The regional districts that comprise the Okanagan are shown in red. ... For other uses, see Alberta (disambiguation). ... A view overlooking Skaha Lake in the Okanagan Valley The regional districts that comprise the Okanagan are shown in red. ... Map of the Canadian Prairie provinces, which include boreal forests, taiga, and mountains as well as the prairies (proper). ... Locator map for Kelowna, BC Kelowna (2001 population 96,288, metropolitan population 147,739) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. ... Calgary is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. ... The British Columbia Coast is one of Canadas two continental coastlines; the other being the coastline from the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean via the Northwest Passage and Hudson Bay to the Ungava Peninsula and Labrador and the Gulf of St. ...

The word is in common usage among local fishermen and people in communities along the British Columbia Coast. The term is also used in the Puget Sound area of Washington. It is important to note that Chinook is not pronounced as it is east of the Rockies - shinook - but is in the original coastal pronunciation tshinook. The British Columbia Coast is one of Canadas two continental coastlines; the other being the coastline from the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean via the Northwest Passage and Hudson Bay to the Ungava Peninsula and Labrador and the Gulf of St. ... Puget Sound For the university in this region, see University of Puget Sound. ... For the capital city of the United States, see Washington, D.C.. For other uses, see Washington (disambiguation). ...

An outflow wind is more or less the opposite of BC/Pacific Northwest Chinook. These are called a squamish in certain areas, and in Alaska are called a williwaw. They consist of cold air streams from the continental air mass pouring out of the interior plateau via certain river valleys and canyons penetrating the Coast Mountains towards the coast. Motto: Splendor sine occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Official languages English (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 36 Senate seats 6 Confederation July 20, 1871 (6th province) Area  Ranked 5th Total 944... A squamish is a strong and often violent wind occurring in many of the fjord of British Columbia, akin to the Williwaw of the Alaska Panhandle. ... A sudden blast of wind descending from a mountainous coast to the sea, in the Strait of Magellan or the Aleutian Islands. ... The Coast Mountains are the westernmost range of the Pacific Cordillera, running along the south western shore of the North American continent, extending south from the Alaska Panhandle and covering most of coastal British Columbia. ...

Pronunciation in BC and the Pacific Northwest

In British Columbia and parts of the Pacific Northwest, the word Chinook is pronounced with a tshi-. In Central Washington, Alberta, and the rest of Canada, it is pronounced with a shi-, as in French. This difference may be because it was the Métis employees of the Hudson's Bay Company, who were familiar with the Chinook people and country, brought the name east of the Cascades and Rockies, along with their own ethnified pronunciation. Motto: Splendor sine occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Official languages English (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 36 Senate seats 6 Confederation July 20, 1871 (6th province) Area  Ranked 5th Total 944... The Pacific Northwest from space The Pacific Northwest, abbreviated PNW, or PacNW is a region in the northwest of North America. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Mestizo. ... Hudsons Bay Company (HBC; Compagnie de la Baie dHudson in French) is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. ... Rocky Mountain National Park (photo courtesy of NPS) View of Colorado Rockies. ...

First nations myth of B.C.

Native legend of the Lil'wat subgroup of the St'at'imc tells of a girl named Chinook-Wind, who married Glacier, and moved to his country, which was in the area of today's Birkenhead River. She pined for her warm sea-home in the southwest, and sent a message to her people. They came to her in a vision in the form of snowflakes, and told her they were coming to get her. They came in great number and quarrelled with Glacier over her, but they overwhelmed him and she went home with them in the end. The Lilwat First Nation, aka the Lilwat Nation or the Mount Currie Indian Band, is a First Nations government located in the southern Coast Mountains region of the Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. ... Státimc (also Lillooet, Stlatlimx, Sƛ’aƛ’imxǝc, Státimc). ... This article is about the geological formation. ... The Birkenhead River is a major tributary of the Lillooet River, which via Harrison Lake and the Harrison River is one of the major tributaries of the lower Fraser River. ...

While on the one hand this tale tells a tribal family-relations story, and family/tribal history as well, it also seems to be a parable of a typical weather pattern of a southwesterly wind at first bringing snow, then rain, and also of the melting of a glacier, perhaps the Place Glacier near Birken Lake or the once-great Birkenhead River glacier 10,000 years ago, when most of this region was icefield. Thus it also tells of a migration of people to the area, (or a war, depending on how the details of the legend might be read, with Chinook-Wind taking the part of Helen in a First Nations parallel to the Trojan War). The Birkenhead River is a major tributary of the Lillooet River, which via Harrison Lake and the Harrison River is one of the major tributaries of the lower Fraser River. ... Helen was the wife of Menelaus and reputed to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and her abduction by Paris brought about the Trojan War. ... First Nations is a Canadian term of ethnicity which refers to the aboriginal peoples located in what is now Canada, and their descendants who are neither Inuit nor Métis. ... The fall of Troy, by Johann Georg Trautmann (1713–1769). ...

Gardening

The frequent midwinter thaws in Great Plains chinook country are more of a bane than a blessing to gardeners. Plants can be visibly brought out of dormancy by persistent chinook winds, or have their hardiness reduced even if they appear to be remaining dormant. In either case, they become vulnerable to later cold waves. Many plants which do well at Winnipeg (where constant cold maintains dormancy all winter) are difficult in the Alberta chinook belt; examples include basswood, some apple, raspberry and saskatoon varieties, and Amur maple. For other uses, see Winnipeg (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Tilia americana L. Tilia americana is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree in the genus Tilia, native to eastern North America. ... This article is about the fruit. ... Cultivated raspberries The raspberry (plural, raspberries) is the edible fruit of a number of species of the genus Rubus. ... Binomial name Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt. ... Binomial name Acer ginnala Maxim. ...

Health

It is said that chinook winds can cause a sharp increase in the number of migraine headaches suffered by the locals and are often called "chinook headaches". It is also popularly believed they can increase irritability and sleeplessness. In mid-winter, over major centers such as Calgary, chinooks can often override cold air in the city, trapping the pollutants in the cold air and causing inversion smog. At such times, it is possible for it to be cold at street level and much warmer at the tops of the skyscrapers and in higher terrain.^{[citation needed]} Irritability is an excessive response to stimuli. ... This article is about the sleeping disorder. ... The inversion effect is a phenomenon that keeps smog at ground level due to layers of air having different temperatures. ... It has been suggested that Haze be merged into this article or section. ... Smoke rising in Lochcarron is stopped by an overlying layer of warmer air. ... It has been suggested that Haze be merged into this article or section. ...

Folklore

There are two especially famous chinook folk tales that most people in southern Alberta probably know in some form from childhood stories.

• A man rode his horse to church, only to find just the steeple sticking out of the snow. So, he tied his horse to the steeple with the other horses, and went down the snow tunnel to attend services. When everybody emerged from the church, they found that a chinook had melted all of the snow, and their horses were now all dangling from the church steeple.
• A man was riding his sleigh to town when a chinook overcame him. He kept pace with the wind, and while the horses were running belly deep in snow, the sleigh rails were running in mud up to the buckboard. The cow that was tied behind was kicking up dust.

Records

Loma, Montana boasts as having the most extreme recorded temperature change in a 24-hour period. On January 15, 1972, the temperature rose from −54 °F (-48 °C) to 49 °F (9 °C), a 103 °F (57 °C) change in temperature; a dramatic example of the regional Chinook wind in action. Loma is a census-designated place located in Chouteau County, Montana. ...

The Black Hills of South Dakota are home to the world's fastest recorded rise in temperature. On January 22, 1943, at about 7:30am MST, the temperature in Spearfish, SD was -4 °F (-20 °C). The chinook kicked in, and two minutes later the temperature was 45 °F (7 °C) above zero. The 49 degree (27 °C) rise in two minutes set a world record that is still on the books. By 9:00am, the temperature had risen to 54 °F (12 °C). Suddenly, the chinook died down and the temperature tumbled back to -4 °F. The 58 degree drop took only 27 minutes. This article is about the place in South Dakota. ... Official language(s) English Capital Pierre Largest city Sioux Falls Area  Ranked 17th  - Total 77,116[1] sq mi (199,905 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 380 miles (610 km)  - % water 1. ... Spearfish is a city located in Lawrence County, South Dakota, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 8,606. ...

Other winds called Chinooks

Similar phenomena are called Föhn winds by meteorologists and climatologists, but are called "chinook winds" in some places in western North America. Föhn winds, although they may be named something else, can occur in most places on the eastern side of a nearby mountain range. A föhn wind or foehn wind occurs when a deep layer of prevailing wind is forced over a mountain range (Orographic lifting). ... Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting. ... Climatology is the science that studies climates and investigates their phenomena and causes. ... North America North America is a continent [1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... A föhn wind or foehn wind occurs when a deep layer of prevailing wind is forced over a mountain range (Orographic lifting). ...

One such wind occurs in the Cook Inlet region in Alaska as air moves over the Chugach Mountains between Prince William Sound and Portage Glacier. Anchorage residents often believe that the warm winds which melt snow and leave their streets slushy and muddy are a midwinter gift from Hawaii, following a common mistake that the warm winds come from the same place as the similar winds in coastal southern British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. Cook Inlet, showing Knik and Turnagain Arms The Cook Inlet or Nuti Inlet is a large inlet of the Gulf of Alaska in south-central Alaska. ... For other uses, see Alaska (disambiguation). ... The Chugach Mountains of southern Alaska are the northernmost of the several mountain ranges that make up the Coast Ranges of the western edge of North America. ... Prince William Sound, on the south coast of Alaska. ... Portage Glacier in 1958 The Portage Glacier (60° 45′ 11″ N 148° 47′ 08″ W) is located on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, and trends north to Portage Lake, 6 km (4 mi) west of Whittier, Chugach Mountains. ... This article is about the city in the U.S. state of Alaska. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Motto: Splendor sine occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Official languages English (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 36 Senate seats 6 Confederation July 20, 1871 (6th province) Area  Ranked 5th Total 944... For the capital city of the United States, see Washington, D.C.. For other uses, see Washington (disambiguation). ... This article is about the U.S. state. ...

Another Föhn wind occurs near Denver, where winds blowing over the Front Range have raised winter temperatures from below freezing to around 50 °F (10 °C) in just a few hours. Föhn winds called "Chinook winds" also occur in Salt Lake City and Albuquerque. A föhn wind or foehn wind occurs when a deep layer of prevailing wind is forced over a mountain range (Orographic lifting). ... This article refers to the state capital of Colorado. ... The Front Range is shown highlighted on a map of the western United States The Front Range is a mountain range in the United States on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, and on the western edge of the Great Plains. ... A föhn wind or foehn wind occurs when a deep layer of prevailing wind is forced over a mountain range (Orographic lifting). ... For ships of the United States Navy of the same name, see USS Salt Lake City. ... “Albuquerque” redirects here. ...

See also

• Diablo wind
• Föhn wind
• Katabatic winds
• Santa Ana wind
• Sundowner wind
• Loo (wind)

Diablo wind is a regional term for the föhn wind that often occurs in the San Francisco Bay Area. ... A föhn wind or foehn wind occurs when a deep layer of prevailing wind is forced over a mountain range (Orographic lifting). ... A katabatic wind, from the Greek word katabatikos meaning going downhill, is a wind that blows down a topographic incline such as a hill, mountain, or glacier. ... The Santa Ana winds in Southern California sweep down wide across the deserts and across the Los Angeles Basin pushing dust and smoke from wildfires far out into the Pacific Ocean. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... It is proposed that this article be deleted, because of the following concern: Non notable, no citation, unlikely search target, and not suitable for redirect If you can address this concern by improving, copyediting, sourcing, renaming or merging the page, please edit this page and do so. ...

References