chinook

1. A moist warm wind blowing from the sea in coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest.
2. A warm dry wind that descends from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, causing a rapid rise in temperature.

[Short for Chinook wind.]

A mild, dry, extremely turbulent westerly wind on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and closely adjoining plains. The term is an Indian word which means “snow-eater,” appropriately applied because of the great effectiveness with which this wind reduces a snow cover by melting or by sublimation. The chinook is a particular instance of a type of wind known as a foehn wind. Foehn winds, initially studied in the Alps, refer to relatively warm, rather dry currents descending the lee slope of any substantial mountain barrier. The dryness is an indirect result of the condensation and precipitation of water from the air during its previous ascent of the windward slope of the mountain range. The warmth is attributable to adiabatic compression, turbulent mixing with potentially warmer air, and the previous release of latent heat of condensation in the air mass and to the turbulent mixing of the surface air with the air of greater heat content aloft. In winter the chinook wind sometimes impinges upon much colder stagnant polar air along a sharp front located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains or on the adjacent plain. Small horizontal oscillations of this front have been known to produce several abrupt temperature rises and falls of as much as 45–54°F (25–30°C) at a given location over a period of a few hours. Damaging winds sometimes occur as gravity waves, which are triggered along the interface between the two air masses. See also Front; Isentropic surfaces; Precipitation (meteorology); Wind; Wind stress.

A warm, dry wind descending from the Rocky Mountains of North America. The chinook occurs sporadically between December and February, bringing dramatic rises in temperature; as much as 17  °C in 15 minutes. There are three causes which act together: the replacement of the normal, cold, high-pressure cells existing over the Great Plains by warmer air streams from the Pacific, adiabatic heating by subsidence (the adiabatic temperature change effected as the wind descends resembles the warming of the European föhn), and the inhibition, or destruction, of the normal, nocturnal ground inversion. The name comes from the Inuit ‘snow eater’.

It is a wind that is generally warm and originates from the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. It often moves from the southwest in a downslope manner, causing a noticeable rise in temperature that helps to warm the plains just east of the Rocky Mountains.

The Chinook is classified as a katabatic wind. A katabatic wind develops because of cold, heavy air spilling down sloping terrain, moving the lighter, warmer air in front of it. The air is dried and heated as it streams down the slope. At times the falling air becomes warmer than the air it restores. Some katabatic winds have been interestingly named, like Taku, a frigid wind in Alaska, or Santa Ana, a warmer wind from the Sierras.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - chinook

n. - chinook, varm vind
adj. - chinook-

Français (French)
n. - chinook, vent chaud et sec, (US, Mil) hélicoptère

n. - chinoiseries, chinoiserie (le style)
adj. - de chinoiserie

Deutsch (German)
n. - Chinook(indianer), warmer föhnartiger Wind

n. - Chinookindianer, Chinook (Sprache), (Meteorol.) trockener Wind am Osthang der Rocky Mountains
adj. - Chinook...

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - θερμός άνεμος των Βραχωδών Ορέων

Italiano (Italian)
indiano americano

Português (Portuguese)
n. - tipo de vento (m) (EUA), Chinuque (m) (f)

Русский (Russian)
член племя индейцев, южный ветер на западе гор Роки

Español (Spanish)
n. - viento cálido de las montañas Rocosas, Oregón y Washington

n. - Chinook (viento cálido y húmedo)
adj. - viento del tipo Chinook

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - chinook (indianstam), chinook (varm torr fallvind)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
奇努克人, 奇努克语, 奇努克人的, 奇努克语的

奇努克风

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 奇努克人, 奇努克語
adj. - 奇努克人的, 奇努克語的

n. - 奇努克風

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 미국 북서부에서 부는 따뜻한 남서풍

n. - 치누크 사람, 치누크어
adj. - 치누크 사람의, 치누크어의

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - チヌーク族, チヌーク

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮סוג של סלמון‬
n. - ‮רוחות המנשבות ממערב וממזרח להרי רוקי במערב ארה"ב, שפה אינדיאנית, בן שבט אינדיאני צפון אמריקני‬
adj. - ‮של שבט אינדיאני בשם זה‬

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