The wind makes you crazy; the dead calm is worse.

[Bo Zarts]

In central Europe, they say that the Foehn winds can make you crazy. The Germans even have a name for it: Föhnkrankheit. I guess maybe the Santa Ana winds (which, from the perspective of atmospheric physics, are the same as the Foehn winds) make Californians crazy too.

However, what is driving me absolutely nuts are the diurnal winds of the last few days here in the Idaho panhandle. It blows like stink from sundown to sunrise, usually from the east-northeast. I mean 10-15, gusting 20!

I get up before sunrise and think, ah .. this is going to be a fine day. A cooling breeze and no swarms of flying ants. Then the sun cracks the horizon; the wind goes dead calm. And the lookout tower becomes like the “painted ship upon a painted ocean” of the Ancient Mariner.

Today was the worst. It got hotter and hotter. By early afternoon it was, by far, the hottest day I have ever spent in a fire lookout. And I worked three fire seasons in south Arizona’s Lemmon Rock lookout.

There was not a hint of a breeze. Then, around 4 pm, the sun dropped to the point that it again flooded into the lookout. The greenhouse effect kicked in and drove the inside temperature to the mid 90s.

Guess what then happened .. the (insert a Samuel L. Jackson expletive) flying ants swarmed. The tiny flying ants .. the worst kind. The yellow jackets soon followed to feed on the flying ants. A yellow jacket popped me on the hand .. don’t they know that I am a fellow hymenoptera from Georgia Tech?

Anyway .. the sun set at 7:19 pm, and the wind kicked up to 10-15, gusting 20, from the ENE. The bugs bugged out. The temperature plunged to a wonderful 80-F!

This was probably my worst day in a fire lookout since I started doing this in 2009. But the worst day in a fire lookout is better than most days anywhere else.

It’ll snow up here next week, mark my word. Then you will have to suffer me bitchin’ about the cold.

Wilderness Fire Lookout
Idaho Panhandle - Bitterroot Mountain Range
September 2, 2025

[Tree Lady]

1. My younger daughter used to say

As a teen "beauty is pain". She was talking about wearing high heels but thinking about you perched overlooking those gorgeous mountains with beautiful sunsets and trees then hotter than hell and dealing with insects reminded me of her sayng.

I live in southern Oregon and have visited the north many times. I have family in Coeur d Alene. We toyed once with buying a home near Sandpoint. In my area rogue valley smoke that we have been lucky this year not to have so far has come last few days.

So thank you for looking out for fires since that is the danger where I live each summer.

Carry on...

[OldBaldy1701E]

2. Me too.

My favorite uncle moved to Coeur d Alene in the mid 80s. Married and two kids.

He loved it.

[OldBaldy1701E]

3. I hear you.

Growing up on the beaches of the Outer Banks, the wind was a constant.

There were times when one would start to go crazy over the fact that it was always blowing... days and days of 10-15mph winds with 25mph gusts. You could not leave anything weighing less than a pound outside.

Constant sand/wind burn. Eyes would be red and grainy if you worked outside.

You had to say the 'S' word, didn't you?

[LisaM]

4. I seriously thought this was a metaphor.

I thought you were referring to weeks of crazy from the White House and then five days of nothing.

[GoneOffShore]

5. Sounds like an annoying day.

Constant winds can be awful.

We get the Mistral here in Aix - but other regions of France each have their unique winds.
https://www.my-french-house.com/blog/article/75454/dancing-with-winds-provence-in-southern-france

[Hekate]

6. First time I experienced a Santa Ana wind, opening the front door was like opening an oven

I’m glad I haven’t encountered the flying stinging critters, but very early on I learned to associate the Santa Anas with fire. I don’t know about others, but yes, those hot winds make me edgy…

As always thanks for keeping us posted, thanks for what you do for us all — and stay safe out there. Hopefully you haven’t had any more Trumpistas wandering by.

[calimary]

7. Thanks so much for this diary, Bo Zarts!

You really take us up there to Idaho with you. LOVED reading through it from the winds to the heat to the flying ants! It’s the little details that bring the whole day to life.

[blogslug]

9. You're a good man

With the heart of a poet.

[callous taoboy]

10. The Chinook winds in Anchorage drove me crazy, for sure.

They would sometimes last for several days and nights, upwards of 80 + mph. Everything not battened down at the apartment complex would be frozen against the chain-link fence and covered in snow berms. The whole apartment building would sway a bit. That, and the darkness of mid-winter gave me very bad depression.

[multigraincracker]

11. Plan way ahead for a fishing trip and it always

turns out there is a nasty Noth East wind blowing that day.