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North Wind
Thu Mar 25, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
The North Wind doth blow...strong and long, causing many Texas Panhandle ranchers to worry:
"The only think standing between us and the North Pole is a three-strand barbwire fence. And I
fear one strand is missing."
Such worries are warranted across North America, unique among the northern continents because
its major mountain chains run north-south rather than east-west as in Europe and Asia. Without
mountain barriers to block them, frigid Arctic outbreaks sweep southward unabated across the
American interior.
Before understanding the science behind winter weather, northern inhabitants heard the voices
of angry gods and demons in the North Wind's frigid rush. The Greeks personified it as Boreas,
an old man gray of locks, but strong in body and harsh in disposition. The Ancient Egyptians
named the North Wind Bai, the ram. The Apache saw it as a black wind, the Irish as dark
gray.
Boreas has many relatives: the twins - Norther of Texas and Blue Norther of Alberta; the
Siberian cousins Purgas and Myatel; the Asian Steppe-sisters Buran and Steppenwind; Scottish
nephews Blaast and Landlash; and the American blood-brothers Arctic Screamer and
Barber.
The continental expanses of northern Canada and Alaska provide spawning grounds for our frigid
outbreaks, although several each year emigrate from Siberia. There, long winter nights couple
with clear skies and snow-covered surfaces to chill the air. As the air cools, it forms large
domes of high pressure, which the jet stream eventually pushes from the nest to rush wildly
southward. The North Wind doth blow.
Thanks to our contributing writer, meteorologist Keith Heidorn. Support for our show doth blow
in from the National Science Foundation and Subaru of America.
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