With an end of this sweltering summer in sight, it is time to turn our thoughts to other weather phenomena. And with feisty El Nino predicted to blow us a stormy autumn, I begin on an airy note. Wind is the most incredible force, one you can’t see but, boy, can you feel and hear it! In Greek mythology, the Anemoi were the wind deities, with offspring Aeolus, Zephyrus, Boreas and Notus.
Aeolus was lord of the winds, the same chap that blew Odysseus back to Ithica. Boreas was the god of the north wind and he was not a nice person (whoever welcomed a north wind?) prone to abducting females and siring at will. His brother Zephyrus was a warm, west wind while brother Notus was an even warmer and very moist south wind. In summary, the ancients were most adept at recognising different types of wind and how they affect us. Modern science has established “windstress”: did you know that there is a direct corelation between instances of stroke and heart attacks, and the strength of the wind? Few people haven’t hear of the
sirocco, that blows from the Sahara Desert through north Africa and across the sea to the Mediterranean coast, bringing dust and despair to all in its path. And central Europeans are obliged to suffer bouts of the
Fohn, a discharge of ions that blows lethargy and indolence from a south-easterly direction. And we have the
hukoui of eastern Europe, the
Sharav of Israel and the
simoon of the south-east Asian seas. Aeoleus, mine is a cooling autumnal breeze, please.
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