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In
meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...
, a williwaw (archaic spelling williwau) is a sudden blast of
wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...
descending from a mountainous coast to the sea. The word is of unknown origin, but was earliest used by British seamen in the 19th century. The usage appears for winds found in the Strait of Magellan, the
Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...
and the coastal fjords of the Alaskan Panhandle, where the terms ''outflow wind'' and ''squamish wind'' are also used for the same phenomenon. On
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...
the word '' piteraq'' is used. The williwaw results from the descent of cold, dense air from coastal mountains in high latitudes. Thus the williwaw is considered a type of
katabatic wind A katabatic wind (named from the Greek word κατάβασις ''katabasis'', meaning "descending") is a drainage wind, a wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Such winds are sometim ...
.


In popular culture

*
Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...
's first novel, '' Williwaw'' (1946), based on a ship in the Aleutian Islands, features the williwaw. *In the '' Deadliest Catch'' episode "Finish Line", the ship ''Aleutian Ballad'' crabbed within a williwaw, when a
rogue wave Rogue waves (also known as freak waves, monster waves, episodic waves, killer waves, extreme waves, and abnormal waves) are unusually large, unpredictable, and suddenly appearing surface waves that can be extremely dangerous to ships, even to lar ...
damaged the ship and knocked her on her side. *The novel '' Williwaw!'' by
Tom Bodett Thomas Edward Bodett ( ; born February 23, 1955) is an American author, voice actor, and radio personality, primarily as a host, correspondent and panelist for a number of shows that air on National Public Radio (NPR). Since 1986, he has been t ...
is about two children who almost die in a williwaw. * W. Douglas Burden mentions a williwaw in his ''Look to the Wilderness''. * Alan Dean Foster mentions a williwaw in his book '' Mad Amos'' *Television show Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, original air date 12/20/1956 “The Williwaw” - Sergeant Preston's sled gets destroyed in a terrible blizzard near a fishing lake so he seeks refuge in a nearby cabin not knowing the man inside is a killer.


See also

* Squamish (wind)


References


External links

* {{note, wol-willi}
''Mentions Williwaw as an Aleut Word''
from The Thousand Mile War Wind Climate of Chile