Today, I must begin my blog with a bit of sadness. A very well-known employee of my school district was tragically killed on Wednesday afternoon, and I discovered this after I had already made my posting yesterday. Joe Bunch died Wednesday from injuries he received from a car accident. Students may remember him from our school if they happened to be passing by the front office when he was coming in to deliver the mail from other schools to ours. Every time he would enter the office, in a funny voice, he would say to me and the others up front, "Hello Ma'am." And then he would try to get my goat. For those of you who know me, I am a bit gullible ... ok ... a LOT gullible. And Joe knew that and took great delight in that. So he was always saying something trying to get me to fall for it. And when I did, he would smirk his way all the way out the door. When he would come while I was eating lunch out front (with my sunglasses on), he would call me "Hollywood". He was a highlight to my day, and I always looked forward to the next time he'd be by. And I and others in the office were not beside giving him a bit of a hard time, either. We always made sure he knew which school's shirt he needed to wear, and when he sported one of the other elementary school's attire, we gave as good as we got. On days he did wear our attire, he made sure that I knew it, and that I told everyone else. Joe was a good man, and there is no question that when he stepped into heaven, saying "Hello, Ma'am", all the folks up there replied back a hearty, welcoming "Hello, Joe!"
Now, on to the question from yesterday: What is a Föhn? (pronounced like you would think of a British person saying the word fern) This is a warm, dry wind that blows down the backside of the Alps providing warmth to Central Europe that it would not otherwise experience. The wind is dry because all the moisture in the air has already been squeezed out on the other side of the mountains as the air rises over them. Then, as it moves down the backside of the mountains towards Germany, this very dry air begins to heat up. Dry air heats more quickly than moist air, so it can reach much warmer temperatures than when the wind started on the other side of the mountains. As it spreads out from the bottom of the mountain, it dries and warms the land.
The name has its roots in Latin and is associated with the Alps. In some cases, this wind can be so significant, that it can raise the temperature anywhere from 18 degrees F to, in rare instances, as much as 54 degrees F. These winds are also called "snow eaters" since they can rapidly melt snow and in some cases cause flooding from that snow melt. The winds, though, are often very dry, and typically are more associated with wild fires and fires of the wooden structures that are so common here that have been dried out in the warm dry air.
Winds like this blow across the globe in any similar area with mountains that force all the moisture out as the wind blows over them. In the US, we know them as Santa Ana winds in California and Chinook winds in the Rocky Mountains. In South America, they are called Zonda. Australia has Nor'westers, Halny in Eastern Europe, Favonio in Italy, and Helm winds in the United Kingdom. These are just a few names and regions for this wind in the world. How many more can you find? What is the name for the wet wind that affects other parts of the world with heavy floods?
The Föhn normally occurs in late winter and early spring in the Alps; however, I brought it up today because the weather this past week has been markedly warmer than it has been. In some of the local weather reports, I noticed the reference to this term. So many people had told me that the fall was unusually cold this year and that they usually have an Indian Summer affect well into October, but this year, we got a burst of cold first. Our winds are now blowing from the south over the Alps, but they are not devastatingly strong and the air is not oddly warm; however, it is definitely noticeable. We are supposed to have highs in the upper 60s and mid 70s through next week. With the leaves changing, it makes this region that much more enjoyable. But I must admit, I miss the idea of air conditioning at night! Here, no one has screens on the windows, so to keep comfortable, you have to open the windows and let the bugs and bees in as well. I knew I'd be getting closer to nature when we got here, but this is a little more than I had in mind!
My question for today is "What is a Slingbox?"
My word/phrase for the day is "Nice Weather!" - Schönes Wetter (sher-ness vet-tehr - where the er of sher is again like a British er - not so much r, in otherwords). This of course is the answer to Wie ist das Wetter? (vee ist dahs vet-tehr), or How is the weather?
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
