The Maloja Wind (german: ) is a

Foehn A Foehn or Föhn (, , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm, downslope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of ...

-type mountain wind that occurs in the upper

Engadin The Engadin or Engadine ( rm, ;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ' ...

, an

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

located in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. The wind blows up-valley during the nighttime and down-valley during the day, a deviation of the typical direction of mountain and valley winds. The phenomenon is caused by wind from the

Val Bregaglia The Val Bregaglia ( lmo, Val Bregaja; german: Bergell, ; rm, ) is an alpine valley of Switzerland and Italy at the base of which runs the river Mera ( lmo, Maira in Switzerland). Most of the valley falls within the Swiss district of Maloja i ...

crossing the

Maloja Pass Maloja Pass (Italian: ''Passo del Maloja'', German: ''Malojapass'') (1815m a.s.l.) is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps in the canton of Graubünden, linking the Engadine with the Val Bregaglia, still in Switzerland and Chiavenna in Ital ...

and intruding into the Engadin. The Maloja Wind occasionally produces a weather phenomenon known as the Maloja Snake (german: ), a low-lying

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may co ...

so named for its long, serpentine shape.

Description

Maloja Wind

2020-08-23 12-34-56 Schweiz Plaun da Lej Isola 1859

The Maloja Wind is a

-type wind that occurs in the upper

. The wind blows up-valley during the nighttime and down-valley during the day, contradicting the typical direction of mountain and valley winds. The phenomenon is caused by wind from the

crossing the valley's terminus at

and intruding into the adjoining Engadin. The roughly 1 km-wide Maloja Pass creates a

box canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...

that blocks moist air from the southern

Po Valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...

from entering the Engadin. When combined with the height difference between Val Bregaglia and the Engadin, the rising air from the latter creates a

pressure gradient In atmospheric science, the pressure gradient (typically of Earth's atmosphere, air but more generally of any fluid) is a physical quantity that describes in which direction and at what rate the pressure increases the most rapidly around a particu ...

between the high pressure Val Bregaglia and the low pressure Engadin. The air eventually rises over the Maloja Pass and into the Engadin. The Maloja Wind reaches a velocity of 20 to 30

knot A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a ''hitch'' fastens a rope to another object; a ' ...

s, with the variation resulting from atmospheric conditions as the wind develops. It is generally less intense in evenings due to reduced insolation.

Maloja Snake

If the

dew point The dew point is the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor, assuming constant air pressure and water content. When cooled below the dew point, moisture capacity is reduced and airborne water vapor will cond ...

in the Maloja Pass is met as a Maloja Wind passes, a low-lying

begins to form. The cloud takes on a narrow and elongated form as it is shaped by the walls of the valley, which shear and rotate its flow. This phenomenon is known as the "Maloja Snake", so named because of the long, serpentine shape of the resulting cloud. The Maloja Snake typically forms roughly 500 to 700 metres above ground level, and is roughly 50 metres thick. It travels through the Engadin and generally dissipates over Lake Sils and

Lake Silvaplana Lake Silvaplana (german: Silvaplanersee; rm, Lej da Silvaplauna) is a lake in the Upper-Engadine valley of Grisons, Switzerland. It takes its name from the village of Silvaplana. The lake is also connected to the nearby Lej da Champfèr. Together ...

, but can reach as far as St. Moritz.

In popular culture

The Maloja Snake is depicted in the 2014 film ''

Clouds of Sils Maria ''Clouds of Sils Maria'' (known simply as ''Sils Maria'' in some territories) is a 2014 psychological drama film written and directed by Olivier Assayas, and starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, and Chloë Grace Moretz. The film is a Fren ...

''. In the film, "''Maloja Snake''" is additionally the title of a play by fictional Swiss playwright Wilhelm Melchior, which depicts a tumultuous romance between two women. The film is credited with bringing popular attention to the Maloja Snake phenomenon.

Other examples

Two valleys that drain from

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

produce Maloja Wind-like effects. They are the only valleys in the United States where these effects have been documented.

References

External links

*
''Das Wolkenphaenomen von Maloja''
({{trans "The Maloja Cloud Phenomenon"), 1924 short film by

Arnold Fanck Arnold Fanck (6 March 1889 – 28 September 1974) was a German film director and pioneer of the mountain film genre. He is best known for the extraordinary alpine footage he captured in such films as '' The Holy Mountain'' (1926), '' The White He ...

depicting the Maloja Snake Winds Val Bregaglia Climate of Europe Geography of Switzerland