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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 (54°F)^{[citation needed]} in just a matter of hours. Central Europe enjoys a warmer climate due to the Föhn.

Effects

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.The first clinical review of these effects was published by the Austrian physician, Anton Czermak in the Nineteenth Century. ^[1] 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. Labeling for preparations of aspirin combined with caffeine, codeine and the like will sometimes include Föhnkrankheit amongst the indications.

Etymology

The name föhn (German: Föhn, pronounced [ˈføːn]) originated in the alpine region. From Latin (ventus) favonius, a mild west wind of which Favonius was the Roman personification.^[2]

Local examples

Regionally, these winds are known by many different names. These include:

Zonda winds in Argentina
Chinook winds east of the Rocky Mountains, in the United States and Canada, and east of the Chugach Mountains of Alaska, United States
The Nor'wester in Hawkes Bay, Canterbury and Otago, New Zealand
Föhn in Wollongong and South Coast, NSW Australia. Often associated with heavy orographic lifiting on the windward side of the escarpment
Halny in the Carpathian Mountains, Eastern Europe
Fogony in the Catalan Pyrenees
Bergwind in South Africa
Viento del Sur (Southern Wind) in the Cantabrian region (northern Spain)
Terral in Málaga (southern Spain)
Föhn in Austria, southern Germany, German-speaking regions of Switzerland and Northern Italy (even non German-speaking regions)
Puelche wind in Chile.
Favonio in Ticino and Italy
The Helm wind, on the Pennines in the Eden Valley, Cumbria, England
Garmoosh, Garmesh, Garmbaad (Warm Wind): (Persian: گرمباد, Gilaki: گرموش) in Gilan region, in the south of Caspian Sea in Iran

The Santa Ana winds of southern California are in some ways similar to the Föhn, but originate in dry deserts as a katabatic wind.

In popular culture

Peter Camenzind, a novel by Hermann Hesse refers, at length, to the Alpine Föhn.
The Föhn is used for the letter F in "Crazy ABC's" from the album Snacktime! by the Barenaked Ladies.
The threat of the Föhn drives the protagonists Ayla and Jondalar in Jean M. Auel's The Plains Of Passage over a glacier before the spring melt. The pair make references to the mood altering phenomena of the wind, similar to those of the Santa Ana wind.
In Southern Germany, this wind is suppose to cause disturbed mood. Heinrich Hoffmann in his book "Hitler Was My Friend" notes that on the evening of September 18, 1931 when Adolf Hitler and Hoffmann left their Munich apartment on a election campaign tour, Hitler had complained about a bad mood and feeling. Hoffmann did try to pacify Hitler about the Austrian Fohn wind as the possible reason. Hours later, Hitler's niece, Geli Raubal was found dead in his Munich apartment. It was declared that she had committed suicide though it had conflicting testimonies from the witneseses present.

Fön trademark

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, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and French in western Switzerland.

References

McKnight, TL & Hess, Darrel (2000). Foehn/Chinoonk Winds. In , Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation, pp. 132. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0130202630

Footnotes

^ A.J Giannini,D.A. Malone,T.A. Piotrowski. The serotonin irritation syndrome--A new clinical entity. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 47:22-25, 1986. PMID 2416736
^ Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th edition, Oxford University Press, entry föhn.

External links

[1] A.J Giannini,D.A. Malone,T.A. Piotrowski. The serotonin irritation syndrome--A new clinical entity. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 47:22-25, 1986. PMID 2416736

[2] Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th edition, Oxford University Press, entry föhn.

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@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 They are also associated with the rapid spread of [[wildfire]]s, making some regions which experience these winds particularly fire-prone.
-These winds are often associated with illnesses ranging from migraines to psychosis.The first clinical review of these effecr was published by the Austrian physician, Anton Czermak in the Nineteenth Century. <ref> A.J Giannini,D.A. Malone,T.A. Piotrowski. The serotonin irritation syndrome--A new clinical entity. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 47:22-25, 1986. PMID 2416736 </ref> A study by the [[Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München]] found that suicide and accidents increased by 10 percent during föhn winds in Central Europe.{{fact|date=May 2009}} 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.
+These winds are often associated with illnesses ranging from migraines to psychosis.The first clinical review of these effects was published by the Austrian physician, Anton Czermak in the Nineteenth Century. <ref> A.J Giannini,D.A. Malone,T.A. Piotrowski. The serotonin irritation syndrome--A new clinical entity. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 47:22-25, 1986. PMID 2416736 </ref> A study by the [[Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München]] found that suicide and accidents increased by 10 percent during föhn winds in Central Europe.{{fact|date=May 2009}} The causation of [[Föhnkrankheit]] (English: Föhn-sickness) is yet unproven.  Labeling for preparations of aspirin combined with caffeine, codeine and the like will sometimes include Föhnkrankheit amongst the indications.
 ==Etymology==