Katabatic Winds is the generic term for downslope winds flowing from high elevations of mountains, plateaus, and hills down their slopes to the valleys or planes below. Katabatic winds exist in many parts of the World and there are many different names for katabatic winds depending where they are located and how they are formed.
Warm, dry katabatic winds occur on the lee side of a mountain range situated in the path of a depression. Examples for these descending, adiabatically warmed katabatic winds are the Foehn winds.
Cold and usually dry katabatic winds, like the Bora, result from the downslope gravity flow of cold, dense air. Katabatic flows slumping down from uplands or mountains may be funneled and strengthened by the landscape and are then known as mountain gap wind such as the Santa Ana, mountain breeze or drainage wind. The gentler katabatic flows of hill slopes produce frost hollows.
Mountain breezes are part of a local wind system. When the mountainside is heated by the Sun the mountain breeze will break down, reverse and blowing upslope. These winds are known as valley wind or anabatic wind.
However, katabatic winds might also reach gale force as an outblowing wind over ice-covered surfaces in Antarctica and Greenland, where the wind may be extremely strong and gusty near the coasts and less severe in mountain regions.
Read & Learn:
http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/Katabatic-winds.htm
#naturalphenomena #katabaticwinds
We get some mad adiabatic heating going on here in Western Canada. Winter/Spring westerly winds are often referred to colloquially as Chinook Winds, and they can get awfully powerful. On the upside, it usually brings pleasant ambient temperatures. A few cases involve a temperature swing of 30 degrees Celsius!
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