So What Do You Call...

[2naSalit]

A gust of wind that lasts for over a minute?

We have been in a wind storm for over 30 hours now, sustained 35-40mph with gust >65mph (I swear many are in excess of 80mph), some lasting for over a minute, it's creepy and loud, didn't get much sleep last night. Had to go to a Dr. app. earlier and I couldn't stand upright in the wind while walking to/from my car.

So is it still a gust if it lasts that long?

[dweller]

1. Renewable Energy ?

In a desert world it’s a sirocco


✌🏻

[2naSalit]

2. The overall...

Last edited Tue Apr 5, 2022, 04:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Condition, in these parts, is referred to as Chinook which, I suppose covers it well enough but not long sustained "gusts". And it's only +30F without the wind chill.

It's just exhausting after a day and a full night, this started Monday and is anticipated to subside sometime tomorrow, late.

*sigh*

[canetoad]

3. Can't say for sure

Depending on where you live there may be a local or indigenous name. I'm sure having some fun looking....

It could be a macroburst - here's a very nice site about all sorts of damaging winds.
https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/wind/types/

Or you could take the thesaurus approach - there's around 100 synonyms for 'Gust of Wind':
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/another-word-for/gust_of_wind.html

It can get pretty windy here where I am; we just call it Bloody Windy!

[2naSalit]

4. The locals definitely have their names for wind...

Ranging from the absurd to the comical including "Don't even say the word!". But they all generally end up just meaning "windy".

Indigenous folks had their terms but I'm not real familiar with them other than Chinook which may be one, but we have a fish named the same thing so


Thanks for the links, I was kind of still a little unnerved from the last one, this is the kind of wind that takes the shingles off the roof. Aren't you on that little continent with a lot of desert? I can see where you'd have some knowledge about wind.

I'll look at those links later when I need something to occupy my mind other than the news.

[canetoad]

5. I am on that continent

Right down south - about 160km south east of Melbourne on Bass Strait - Tasmania is over the strait which is one of the windiest stretches of water in the world. All the prevailing westerlies are funnelled down the strait. It can get pretty hairy but we don't get much frost or freezing temps.

I've heard of both types of chinook - the wind and the fish. Probably a connection in the past. The first peoples here were the Boon Wurrung tribe. I laughed hearing their word for crow - Waarn. Say it out loud!

[2naSalit]

6. That sounds like a...

Fascinating place! I look at that part of the globe every day and wonder how it compares to places I've seen. Maybe someday I will go to that area to actually see it.

We have wind 350 days of the year here, on the north side of Yellowstone NP. We catch the downdraft off the continental divide but also where large air masses tend to merge and/or collide so we get serious wind.

I just start getting uncomfortable about it after a day or two when the wind storms come. A cold air mass is currently resisting a warmer one from the south so turmoil is on the menu until they are pushed east onto the great plains.