Dictionary:
foehn föhn (fœn, fān)  |
A warm dry wind coming off the lee slopes of a mountain range, especially off the northern slopes of the Alps.
[German Föhn, from Middle High German fœnne, from Old High German phōno, from Vulgar Latin *faōnius, from Latin favōnius, the west wind, from favēre, to be favorable.]
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| Word Overheard: foehn |
They go by various names in various parts of the world — chinooks, bergwinds and others — but whatever they're called, the föhns are ill winds indeed:
"Santa Anas are categorized as a föhn wind by meteorologists. The 'murder winds' were termed so during a study by theLudwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Germany which found a 10 percent increase in suicide and accidents during föhn winds in Central Europe. Santa Anas Winds are of the föhn kind called snow-eaters, because they can swiftly make snow melt in the Alps."
Link: Malibu Arts Reviews Magazine - Malibu Fire Crews Exhausted But Fight On Against The "Devil Winds"
Posted October 28, 2007.
See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words. 
| Geography Dictionary: föhn |
When moist air rises over a mountain barrier, it experiences adiabatic temperature changes, and cools at the slow saturated adiabatic lapse rate. Precipitation is common. Once past the mountains, the air, now much drier, descends. It warms at the dry adiabatic lapse rate, higher than the saturated rate by some 3 °C/1000 m. A dry, warm, gusty wind, which can reach gale force, results. Effects in summer can be so desiccating that bush fires are a serious risk; in winter, snow melt can be rapid. See also chinook.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: foehn |
| Wikipedia: Foehn wind |
A foehn wind or föhn wind is a type of dry down slope wind which occurs in the lee of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind which results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air which has dropped most of its moisture on windward slopes (see orographic lift). As a consequence of the different adiabatic lapse rates of moist and dry air, the air on the leeward slopes becomes warmer than equivalent elevations on the windward slopes. Föhn winds can raise temperatures by as much as 30°C (86°F)[citation needed] in just a matter of hours. Central Europe enjoys a warmer climate due to the Föhn.
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Winds of this type are called "snow-eaters" for their ability to make snow melt (also sublimate) rapidly. This snow-removing ability is caused not only by warmer temperatures, but also the low relative humidity of the air mass, having been stripped of moisture by orographic precipitation coming over the mountain(s).
Föhn winds are notorious among mountaineers in the Alps, especially those climbing the Eiger, for whom the winds add further difficulty in ascending an already difficult peak.
They are also associated with the rapid spread of wildfires, making some regions which experience these winds particularly fire-prone.
These winds are often associated with illnesses ranging from migraines to psychosis. A study by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München found that suicide and accidents increased by 10 percent during föhn winds in Central Europe.[citation needed] The causation of Föhnkrankheit (English: Föhn-sickness) is yet unproven. Labelling for preparations of aspirin combined with caffeine, codeine and the like will sometimes include Föhnkrankheit amongst the indications.
The name föhn (from the German Föhn, pronounced [ˈføːn]) originated in the alpine region. From Latin (ventus) favonius, a mild west wind of which Favonius was the Roman personification.[1]
Regionally, these winds are known by many different names. These include:
The Santa Ana winds of southern California are in some ways similar to the Föhn, but originate in dry deserts as a katabatic wind.
AEG registered the trademark Fön in the 1920s for its hairdryer, which is widely used as a synonym in several languages, such as Finnish, German, Swiss German, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Czech, Croatian, Latvian, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish and French in western Switzerland.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Word Overheard. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Geography Dictionary. A Dictionary of Geography. Copyright © Susan Mayhew 1992, 1997, 2004. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Foehn wind". Read more |
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