DEFINITION OF KATABATIC WINDS

A local wind that moves down a slope,

usually as a result of cooling at night. Katabatic winds are

also commonly known as mountain or valley breezes, foehns,

and glacier winds, but the term katabatic wind is usually

reserved for particularly strong downslope winds. Strong,

even hurricane-force winds form particularly well on elevated

plateaus surrounded by mountains, with an opening that

slopes steeply downhill. When these plateaus get covered in

snow in the winter, the cold air on top of them produces a

small high-pressure system that flows down the hills and is

particularly strong in the valleys or gaps that lead off the

plateau. The katabatic winds can become extremely strong

when low-pressure systems approach, such as when snowcovered

plateaus are formed along the coast. Such conditions

are found along the coast of parts of southern Alaska, along

the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, along the Columbia

River gorge, through Yosemite Valley coming off the Sierras,

in the Rhone Valley of France, and coming off the Russian

Plateau into the northern Adriatic Sea.

See also CHINOOK WINDS; SANTA ANA WINDS.

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