| Term: | Foehn |
| Definition: |
Wind warmed and dried by descent, in general on the lee side of a mountain. Air is forced to flow against and over a mountain range in a short period of time. The air cools as it rises up the mountain range, cloud forms and rain or snow falls. Heat is added to the air through condensation of water vapour (latent heat) thus reducing the rate at which the air cools. When the air descends on the other side it has lost some of its moisture (because rain and/or snow has fallen from it) and it is warmed by compression as it descends. This dry, warm wind is the foehn wind. The windward side is usually very wet while the lee side can be a dry desert. Rainfall in Australia is greater in the east due to the influence of the Great Dividing Range. AustraliaBoM
GCW |