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Outside my window, the winds are blustering and blasting my house, whistling in through any crack they can find, sending anything loose
tumbling down the street (including a tumbleweed that looks somehow out of place in this tidy suburb).
I glare at the wildly tossing arms of a pine, but of course it’s windy. It is March. Springtime, sort of, and in Colorado, that means Wind Season.
Now, I understand there are those of you out there who like the wind, who love the sound of it tiptoeing through the trees in your sylvan forests, while little birds whistle and tweet in the upper branches. Or maybe you like the winds over the oceans, each sound echoing the other.
I hate the wind. Hate it. It is a four-letter word around here. As a natural born naturalist, I do understand that it has a place in the ecosystem—sweeping something or another away, shaking out the dust from every crevice and cranny, clearing entire fields of vegetation and then recycling it into my hair, face, nose, and clothing—but you cannot make me like it.
In The English Patient, one character tells another of all the words the people of the Sahara have for wind—a dozen or more, winds that burn and winds with a thousand tongues and a wind “which rolls and rolls and produces a nervous condition.”
As a native of this blustery place, I wanted to memorize that list of words. Africo and alms and arifi winds, ahboobs and harmattans.
I need a thousand words for wind, too, not just a blustery wind, or a howling wind, but Wind-That-Springs-Up-At-Two-A.M.-And-Knocks-All-The-Fences-Down. Or Imp Winds—a wind that steadily blows in one direction at approximately 32 miles per hour, then switches and gusts to 70 from another direction, sending hair, clothes, groceries flying.
Now, I will say that we do not have hurricanes or—God forbid—tornadoes here. (Is there any weather worse than tornadoes? I can’t imagine what it is.) It is routine to get winds to 60 and 70 mph, sometimes even sustained winds at that level, but mostly, through the spring and they damage things, but usually only in an annoying way. Fences, trees, cars. Your hair. Mainly, they’re just insanity makers. Blowing, blowing, gusting. Stop. Blow, gust, blow gust gust gust gust blow. Stop.
When we were children, my siblings and I knew to tiptoe into the house on days like this. My mother would be slamming pots and pans, muttering under her breath, mad as hell at just about everything, but mainly the “stupid wind.” You can’t do anything outside. Grassy fields catch fire. My dog gives me the saddest eyes in the world, but I still can’t take him for a walk. All I can do is stay inside and rub my red eyes and hope April will hurry up and get here.
What are the names of the wind in your part of the world? Do you like wind, or like me, do you hate it?
I live up on a plateau renowned for it’s Winter winds. They blow up from the Antarctic. The cold gets into the very marrow of your bones. Every year people seem surprised by the winds, but you can put money on them arriving. Being out in these winds gives me a headache.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:10 am.
Gotta love Toowoomba hey?
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:28 am.
Oooh, I think I’ve felt those winds, on top of Mt. Wellington on Tasmania. Coldest. Wind. Ever. I was shivering and frozen in two seconds flat.
Not sure where Toowoomba is…now have to go look it up!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:54 am.
I’m in the same place as Mary. I call the wind “That Damn Thing That Does Stupid Things To My Hair” or “The Awesomest Thing Ever Because It Dries My Laundry Quickly”. Sadly though, the wind sends Acheron more mouthier than usual – especially when it is paired with a storm.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:34 am.
Oh the only bad wind is the one that would carry the smell of the yeast factory. Believe me, it is enough to make you feel sick and to think that I put up with it for three years – thank God for sinus infections!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:32 am.
That’s true–it’s nice that the clothes dry very quickly when I hang them out to dry! They smell great, too.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:54 am.
Gee, sorry, but I kind of dig a good gusty wind but I can see why living in CO you’d feel differently.
In NYC, the wind is called Mayor Bloomberg (rimshot).
When we get strong wind days, it’s only too much when you’re in a high rise. Last year, it was stressful on 60 MPH wind days when I lived and worked in high rises – there was no getting away from the howling.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:02 am.
or the subtle rocking. that used to drive me insane!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:04 am.
I’ve never felt that subtle rocking, or heard the howl in a high rise. I bet it would be kind of eerie!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:55 am.
LOL — rimshot!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 1:05 pm.
Around here we get some strong winds in the form of Nor’easters or petering out hurricanes or tropical storms. From time to time we get tornados but it’s a rare occasion.
I happen to be a fan of wind in smaller quantities. We sail, so it’s a necessity in the under 15-20 knot realm during the summer. A steady 10 is ideal for me.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:07 am.
I can see why a sailor would want wind, and find affection for it. Not sure how fast knots are to mph, so that’s another thing to look up today.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:56 am.
The area where I live in the county is not too bad for wind. The house of a friend of mine gets winds out of the canyon fairly often. That wind is much chillier than in other places in the county.
Fairly often near this time of the year (end of Feb to beginning of Apr) we get a Chinook wind. Unsure if that is an official name or just local. The Chinook (warm wind)comes through in the middle of the night and will melt 6-8 inches of snow. Sorta funny to go to sleep with six inches of snow and wake up in the morning to bare ground except for plowed snow piles.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:19 am.
Chinook is an official wind term, I think. I seem to remember it’s a Native American word for “snow-eater.” Very poetic, no?
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:58 am.
We also get Chinooks, and they are very sweet winds, even when they bluster. Now that I’m talking about the various types, I realize there are some even I like. A windy place has lots of different kinds of winds, right?
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:59 am.
Our names for wind are usually just high winds, mild winds, low winds, no winds. I sound like Dr. Seuss.
I do not like the wind. I read a book once about a Kansas farm wife left alone on the prairie who went mad from the wind. I can completely understand that on days when the wind just howls.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:43 am.
Hey, Doc!
That’s pretty fun when you read it aloud.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:57 am.
I love the wind! of course, here it seasoned with the sea so it’s kind of great! Not so great on stinky seaweed shores when the tide is out, but hey, still nice.
I also love a good storm. I know, I’m weird like that. the more hurricane-ish, the happier I am. I’m not stupid enough to go out in it and risk life or limb, but I do like the wildness of it. My sis Debbie(whose birthday is today) and I are 8 yrs apart and she loves a good storm too. we would sit for hrs during a lightening storm as kids, just watching the skies flash and listening to the thunder. blame her for my wierdness!lol
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:57 am.
Kathy, I’ve often thought it would be great to be near the sea during a (minor) hurricane. That’s a different kind of thing, though, a big storm, raging, with lots of water in it. The winds I hate are the drying, dusty, non-stop kind. (Blowing again today…sigh!)
Happy birthday to your sister.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:22 pm.
I like a good summer breeze… but hate the high winds that come with thunderstorms… [coming later this evening] and despise the tornado winds… which we’ve already seen enough of this spring…
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:10 am.
I do love thunderstorms, but I would not love them so much if we ever got tornados out of them. The mountains interfere with the weather pattern that creates tornados, though they do show up in the eastern half of the state now and then.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:36 pm.
I grew up with the Santa Ana winds. You could almost set your clocks by them. And once they started, you could count on them being around for months. Hot, dry wind, drying out your skin, messing with your hair, creating eye drop addictions… I don’t see how it’s possible that they’re really good for the ecosystem. If that were true, then wouldn’t vegetation be more lush in areas that have constant wind?
I do enjoy a light breeze, though. Nature’s air conditioning.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:33 am.
I’ve heard about the Santa Ana winds. They start the fires, right?
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:20 pm.
Yes, they have been know to start a few with downed power lines. Mostly it’s some careless person or pyro that think it’s fun to see what a thrown match can do. It’s nice when they blow the smog back to LA but they can get scary when it’s so dry. 9 years ago we had the “Old Fire” and my neighbor lost their house. My husband stayed behind to man the hose on the roof or our house would have been a victim also. Palm trees are dangerous when combined with wind and fire. The palm fronds become flaming missiles which is the cause of alot of the homes that burned.
Just give me a nice gentle breeze and I will be happy.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:43 pm.
There have been some days this past winter where the wind kept me awake at night. I don’t recall it ever being as bad as it was this winter. I don’t really have a name for them, other then ‘stupid winds’.
When we first moved to this house I really noticed the wind. Our old house was made of all brick where this one is siding on top. I remember laying in bed listening to the wind blow through the siding, thinking that the house was falling apart.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:40 am.
LOL! Stupid winds works just fine. Wind in the middle of the night wakes me up sometimes, too, especially when I’m worried about something like the fences or the greenhouse (which has now stayed in place since we weighted it with cinder blocks at all four corners).
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:24 pm.
Windy days are ok for a short time, but for a long one? Nope.
Btw, there is a statistical connection between winds and depression. It does something to the ion field or something like that. I can’t remember the science of it, but I’m sure that if you google it, you’ll find it.
I do love a cool breeze, especially at the beach, but that’s not really a ‘wind.’ A wind at the beach causes sand to go places it shouldn’t, which is very, very bad.
I guess, basically, I’m a breezy kind of girl and not a windy one.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:41 am.
Here’s a quote from Raymond Chandler: “There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen.”
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 9:55 am.
LOVE that, Susan. Janet Fitch did the Santa Anas in White Oleander, and it was the first time I understood how parching they might be.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:26 pm.
Yeah, breezes are not the same as wind, and there IS something about those winds at the beach that are refreshing and energizing.
I totally believe that about winds and depression–and farmwives going mad. I’ve often wondered how they stood it, marooned out on a prairie in a sod hut, with the winds blowing across a thousand miles….!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:25 pm.
That made my toes curl … both the sod house and the winds blowing across a thousand miles.
I think I’ll go and soak in a hot, sudsy bath. No wind, just a glass of vino and an appreciation for the sea breezes that are even now tickling the palm trees and making ‘em giggle.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 6:44 pm.
I agree, I like a cooling breeze, like when its 80 degrees and hot and a nice little breeze trickles thru, that is nice. But wind? I don’t like the strong wind either.
Really don’t like windy days!! It burns my eyes and then when I get home, they water and its hard to read at night. That should be enough of a reason right there.
But wind can bring pollen from 400 miles away. Keep your stinkin’ pollen down there will ya! We don’t need it.
I even have a small tree out front and I’ve hung several wind chimes in it, so again, a light breeze sets them off and they sound sweet and musical. But a strong wind will ring them annoyingly AND tangle them up.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:52 am.
Wind chimes are lovely, and I have a lot of them, too, but mostly I hang them inside near windows so they don’t get blown down. I have some very large ones my father gave me and those gong more than tinkle. I have sometimes had to go outside and take them down during a long stretch of sustained wind.
Pollen isn’t as much a problem here as the dust. It just gets all over everything.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:28 pm.
In the words of Pooh…we have blustery days.
I like the sound of wind and rain, but wind itself is a lonely sound. Wind and rain just say…crawl into bed and revel in it’s coziness while I do my thing out here.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 9:00 am.
Empathy to you and your wind! In Iowa the wind NEVER stops blowing. In fact, it’s such a constant here that we’ve capitalized on it, and have huge “Wind Farms” set up across the entire state. If you ever drive through here, what used to be open plain now has ginormous, white wind turbines dotted across the landscape. Our colleges now have “wind energy” programs as well for people wanting to specialize in the fields.
HOWEVER, it still blows (literally). We get used to it after a while. Sometimes we luck out and in the spring and fall it’s just a “lively breeze”.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 9:31 am.
Ah, nice image, Pesky. It is a lonely sound.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:29 pm.
Wind farms are becoming a big industry here, too, Haley, especially since the farmers and ranchers have sold water rights to the cities along the front range. It was probably never a great place to farm anyway, and the wind is never going anywhere, so it’s a good solution for us. We’ve also started seeing solar farms, another good “crop” in sunny Colorado.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:31 pm.
Winds here only seem to be bad in the spring, unfortunately. I’d really like to see them more often in the summer, when it’s sticky and hotter than… I never minded the winds too much, until I started to grow out my hair. Now the thought of wind has me harumphing(?). Another reason I don’t care too much for it is because of my job. I work at a plant nursery. Anytime the winds blow thousands of plants blow over, leaving them looking like bowling pins. Twelve acres of plants that need to be picked up time and again has me naming the winds here break-my-back winds!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 9:36 am.
I know the wind of which you speak, Barbara. I grew up on the plains of West Texas. Chinook winds came every spring, always carrying red dirt, sometimes blowing as hard as 100 mph. Everything was coated with grime. I do not miss that at all. AT. ALL.
In Austin, we have spring breezes. The kind that gently lift your curtains and smell sweet.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 9:40 am.
There’s a nice image–gently lifting curtains, the air soft and sweet.
Yeah, west Texas has this wind, too.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:10 pm.
We call the wind “Maria.”
ROFL
No. Kidding.
In LA, the Santa Anas are part of the routine. Hot, dry, dusty wind.
In NC, the wind is breezy, blowy, gentle, gusty, tornado-y, and hurricane-ish. But, overall, it’s not a windy place. It’s a HUMID, BUGGY place. I could do a blog about humidity and bugs, but I like to stay in a happy mental place, so I won’t.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 9:45 am.
And the size of the bugs. I swear they are on steroids here. NC is home to every bug and snake in the world, I think.
Sorry for taking you out of your happy mental place for an extra minute!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:59 am.
LOL. Oh, humidity. Yes, there’s that. It was 7% humidity here yesterday, which is uncomfortable, but not like bugs and sweat. I know a young woman who used to say she loved humidity because it felt like the air was giving her hugs!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:33 pm.
Our house is situated in a little hollow which protects us from the heavy wind. We rarely get more than a blustery day which is when I hang my sheets out to dry. A light breeze is mostly what we enjoy. But, we are in a tornado area and have the sirens that go off each summer. Ugh.
My DD1 lives in NYC, and like Fresh, does not enjoy the windy days they have. Growing up in SW Ohio did not prepare her for the driving rain and howling wind that whips around the city buildings.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 9:48 am.
Lovely to have the protection of the land like that. But tornados….really scary stuff, IMO!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:34 pm.
I used to enjoy the wind…then we moved less than half a mile into a wind tunnel. Shingles blow off the roof on a regular basis. It destroyed my gazebo, pushed my heavy patio furniture across the patio into the pool and ripped the screen door off its hinges. The only thing it didn’t destroy was a tree in the front yard I hated. Nope…bent that sucker over and made it kiss the drieway, then let it spring back up with nary a crack. So I had it removed lest it took my porch roof off in the next storm.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 11:32 am.
Wow, that’s pretty intense, Anne! Too bad it didn’t take the tree while it was at it.
My BFF just told me her patio furniture was overturned last night, breaking all the glass in the table.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:35 pm.
I live in a city, so those “blistery winds of winter” can be heard far and wide.. I too dislike the wind… But I so so love those “Summer Winds”… or “Trade Winds” when I am down south.. But here in the Great White North… not so much those Winter Winds..
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 11:35 am.
The canyons of the city…yes. Exaggerates those sounds a lot.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:37 pm.
Where I live, in Southern Arizona, wind means something else entirely. It means blowing dust. So much dust you need a shower after just taking the trash out. We are having a really windy March ourselves here. Don’t get me wrong, I love it here. As a matter of fact I have lived here my whole life. To me having to dust everything weekly is normal.(And that’s for the non windy times) My mom, who now lives in Memphis, loves to brag how she only dusts a couple times a year. Of course I might have called and mentioned that I was wearing shorts in January while she was having an ice storm. Anyway, of topic the blowing dust here is routinely causing traffic accidents, allergy issues, and once even blew a mobile home down the road over on to its side. The buzz word here this year has been haboob. This cracks me up. Its still a dust storm just like we always have had. I think some weather guy googled dust storm just for a change in vocabulary.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 11:57 am.
How funny that he used the same word–like all Arabic words, the spellings differ–but it describes that kind of wind so well. Sounds like you get the same kind of wind we do, and West Texas would have them, as well. Western winds.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:38 pm.
I like soft winds.. even medium ones are fine, but I am not too fond of the big gusts. It is definitely windy season here, I feel like calling for Auntie Em.
I absolutely love sitting in the forest listening to the wind blowing through the trees. It is one of my favorite sounds.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 12:12 pm.
There is something very peaceful about winds blowing through a forest, those whispering winds that rattle aspen leaves and whir through pine needles.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:40 pm.
Around here between Oct and Dec, then Jan and March, we have the Santa Anas, which come off the deserts toward the coast of California and regularly hit 70 mph. Their original name, though, was the ‘santanas’, or devil winds. I don’t know how it became Santa Ana, unless it’s because of the city in the OC with the same name. I definitely think devil winds is more descriptive, and I LIKE wind. Usually. *g*
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 12:22 pm.
Devil winds sounds right.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:40 pm.
Yeah devil winds are more appropriate. I have watched wild fires fueled by the Santa Ana winds sweep down the San Bernardino Mtns in 30 minutes while the burning tumbleweed explodes as it is carried up into eaves of homes at the bottom of the mountains, leaving pockmarks of burned out houses overnight, while those of us who evacuated watch TVs in friends’ homes to find out whether we have more than the clothes on our backs and our husband’s TAX RECORDS (yes that is what our car trunk was filled with) to come home to. I have had the winds kick up from construction sites and sand blast the paint right off my car. So yeah, Anna is pretty powerful, especially when it blasts heat from the desert. Give me the autumn winds sweeping down from Canada to Texas. I know they sometimes play havoc on the plains, but oh how welcome they are to the humid Gulf Coast.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 1:14 pm.
They have winds and fires like that in Australia, too, and it’s astonishing how fast those winds move (and gum trees explode). Scary to live in a place where that can happen.
Which makes me appreciate the fact that mostly my winds just annoy the heck out of me!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:42 pm.
Where I live in NorCal – it is always fairly windy.
However, about 3 or 4 weeks back we had some real strong gusts that were rattling the windows and whooshing underneath the doors. Happens occasionally so its inconvenient and my allergies go nuts but its only for a few days normally.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 2:07 pm.
A few days is bearable. But no fun anyway.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:18 pm.
I don’t usually mind the wind too much except during the winter. Here in Texas, it may not be technically freezing some days during the winter, but the ‘wind chill factor’ makes it feel like it is because it is a DAMP wind. That damp wind goes right into your bones, and I do HATE that kind of wind. This time of year, it’s not too bad, and it blows the smell of all of the blooming mountain laurels and magnolias in the area. Those smell SO good!!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:06 pm.
Mmm, the smell of flowers on the wind sounds very good. And I’d kill to grow a magnolia tree.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:18 pm.
I live in northern Indiana, so I am not far from Chicago, which of course is famous for its winds. I’m also in a tornado area. Overall, the wind here isn’t bad. It’s usually mild, with occasional gusty days and of course the horrible tornado-level storms. I used to love watching storms. I’m still okay with them as long as I don’t have to drive in them. Two summers ago, I got caught out in one that blew in out of nowhere! I was just driving to my boyfriend’s house, just a few miles from my apartment, and the sky ripped open and a wall of wind came out of nowhere. Trees landed on my car while I was in it. My car was totaled, and I am lucky to be alive. I will never forget it.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:36 pm.
Monica! A tree fell on your car?? That’s pretty dramatic, and you are lucky to be alive. We’re grateful you’re here to tell the tale.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 3:41 pm.
Thank you, Barbara.
Yes, several branches and an entire tree. A tree fell in front of the car, too. The whole story is pretty dramatic. Actually, it would probably make a great scene in a novel, since I could describe it so vividly. At least something good would come out of it then!
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 6:25 pm.
I myself love the wind, accept when it is affiliated with a hurricane/tornado. You see I live in the Sunshine State (FL) for those that don’t it. You can keep the humidity, I REALLY DISLIKE the humidity. But after my 6 day stay in CT this past month, I don’t like the cold. So, other than CA is there any place else to live?
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:23 pm.
California is probably a good bet. San Diego?
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:17 pm.
PS Isn’t that the cutest dog in the picture??? I love his face.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:19 pm.
The Santa Anas have been mentioned a few times already. I’m not particularly fond of them as they rob us of our daily ocean breezes when we want them the most.
For the most part I love our daily ocean breeze that starts blowing around 2 pm every day in coastal SoCal. I’ve accepted them and know that I always need to have a light jacket in the car, even in the summer. I don’t like them when they get over 20 mph, especially in the winter, because it’s really, really cold. The other night it was 31 degrees!! with windchill, add the damp of the ocean = freezing!! It’s times like that when 31 feels colder here than it did in growing up in Montana.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:49 pm.
I love those cool ocean breezes–to me evenings are meant to be chilly. I love to put on a sweater as the sun sets!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:15 pm.
I’m from Southern California, and we have winds called Santa Ana’s that are pretty fierce. Now I live in Florida, and our winds are called hurricanes.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 6:43 pm.
The Santa Anas win the bad wind stories here today. AND they have their own name!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:14 pm.
I hate the cold winds of winter that blow up the hill off the Hudson River. When the leaves are off the trees it’s cold and miserable. In the summer when there is green stuff to block some of it, it’s not so bad. Unless they are really strong and then I worry about my neighbor’s huge oak trees coming down on one of the houses or across the road. Then it’s scary!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:13 pm.
Yeah, an oak tree on the house would be pretty terrible.
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:14 pm.
No one has yet mentioned my favorite Wind named Ruth who wrote one of my top 10, all time favorite books – Midnight Rain.
Posted on March 24, 2012 at 4:40 pm.
This website is really awesome! Thank you for creating such a nice place to learn things and input our own thoughts.
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 7:55 pm.