foehn wind

Also known as föhn wind, foehn phenomena, foehn phenomenon, foehn, föhn

a warm, dry, downslope wind descending the lee side of the Alps as a result of synoptic-scale, cross-barrier flow over the mountain range

AI overview

A foehn wind is a warm, dry wind that flows down the lee (sheltered) side of the Alps when large-scale weather patterns push air across the mountain range. These winds matter because they can rapidly raise temperatures and lower humidity, creating conditions that increase wildfire risk and affect weather and living conditions across affected regions.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

~12 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The causes of the Foehn effect in the lee of mountains (adapted from:) Dissolving Föhn clouds over Cumbre Nueva, La Palma, at an elevation of 1,400 m (4,600 ft)

A Foehn, or Föhn ( German pronunciation: [føːn]; UK: /fɜːn/, US: /feɪn/ fayn, US also /fʌn, fɜːrn/ fu(r)n), is a type of dry, relatively warm downslope wind in the lee of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that 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.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “foehn wind” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.