“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas…”

A few years back, the local NOAA office offered a “contest” to name the strong foehn or katabatic wind that we get in Oregon, coming from the east through the Columbia River Gorge. I’ve heard “Chinook” used to describe this wind, but the ggweather site indicates that is a wind in the Rocky Mountains. It would make sense for Oregon since Chinook used to be spoken in these parts. Anyway, the NOAA contest seems to have gone nowhere. We still refer to these, unapologetically if somewhat unimaginatively, as “east winds”. So much for making up new terms to replace the local organic word.

martha said:

Oy, surely they can do better than “east wind,” windpig. (Btw, “windpig”?) For some reason so many other winds have poetic names. C’mon, Oregonians!

It’s been “east wind” as long as I have lived in Portland (which, BTW, is a long, long time.) Not poetic, but well-established. (BTW2, that same Columbia River Gorge is a windsurfing mecca due to the strong “west winds”. “Windpig” reflects my addiction.)