Talk:Mistral (wind)

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The article has been reorganised to concur with the french original, the headings have been put into shape, and the English has been improved and copy edited. I'm not a meteorologist so if I've made any gross errors please let me know Kudpung 13:05, 17 April 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kudpung (talk • contribs)

Are mistral and sea breeze the same thing, differently named because they appear in different parts of the world? --Romanm 11:13, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)

No, they are quite the opposite. A sea breeze is an onshore wind caused by the heating of air over the land at low altitudes. The Mistral is an offshore wind caused by the cooling of air over land at high altitudes.

The funnelling effect that produces the Mistral occurs at only a few places, and each wind produced this way has its own name. Sea breezes are universal. --iakobski

Aren't there some ill mental effects that are caused by this wind? --HurriSbezu

You can get severely depressed if you're trying to cycle into it...Mr Larrington (talk) 11:21, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

I have heard that because of the Mistral all trees(of certain varieties in an exposed location) in this area slant in a particular direction. It is dependable enough you can you the flora as a compass in this area. Can anyone from the area verify this? If so can we add it to the article and pictures would be great!--70.240.6.32 18:17, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

What is true : all trees are slant in the same direction, and many trees can't resist at all to this wind.

It is also true that it is hard to sleep some (few) days in the year, when the wind blows too extremely. That is hoppefully only some few days in the year, not enough to cause mental troubles :)

To end, there are 2 different winds : Tramontane and Mistral, using the same behavior, with different directions (both in direction of Gulf of Lion). First uses the North Pyrennees and south of Massif Central. Second uses the Rhône Valley (East of Massif Central, West of Alps). I think this article makes the same definition for both winds. that is highly possible the 2 winds are parts of the same atmospheric phenomenon, but Mistral is referent to the North to South wind blowing in the Rhône valley, why the other Tromontane is the second part using the Garonne valley.

The "blows mostly in the winter" is also quite strange for me. Tramontane (and Mistral?) blows when there is no clouds in the sky, that mean quite all the year. Here, we usually say that if there is no Tramontane, the sea-wind is blowing, and when there is no wind at all, the wind direction is just changing...

Mistral

Do you know when the mistral ends? Is it over by June?

Unfortunately it never really ends - it can blow in July and August and can make the sea suddenly very cold. But it's less frequent in the summer than in the winter. SiefkinDR (talk) 19:00, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

There seems to be a problem in this article with two sections on The Mistral from the Northeast. I'll try to do my best to sort it out. Il me semble qu'il y a deux morceaux sur "The Mistral from the Northeast". Je ferai de mon mieux de les rédiger le cas écheant. Both winds (north and nord west) come from the same phenomena with differents names. By the way, mistral is probably a provençal name while tramuntana is the catalan names for the wind. v_atekor (talk) 14:10, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

The traditional houses in the provence have thick stone walls, sometimes 1 m, in the north side, with no openings for doors or windows to protect from the wind. Les maisons traditionelles ont des murs en pierre massif d'un épaisseur d'un metre, sans portes ni fenêtres, afin de proteger du Mistral.Kudpung 11:16, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Inaccurate pressure/wind graphic

The arrows around the low pressure centers are oriented completely wrong. They should be directed counterclockwise and inward into the low. Can whoever made/found that graphic replace it with one which is meteorologically correct? Thanks. Thegreatdr (talk) 15:50, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

North or Northwest wind?

There's some question about whether the mistral is a north or northwest wind. Meteo France defines the mistral as a north wind, but the traditional Provencal compass rose displayed on the coastal walk in Toulon shows it as a northwest wind, with the tramontane being the north wind. It seems that the Tramontane is major wind from the north to the west of the Rhone, while the mistral is the name for the wind coming from the north to the east, from the Camargue to somewhere east of Toulon. Does that make sense? Does anybody have any other information on this? Thanks. SiefkinDR (talk) 16:34, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

Always Cold?

At least one editor quotes the US Navy and insists the wind is always cold. As a Provence resident (Le Pontet, Châteauneuf-de-Gadagne), I can attest the wind is icy cold in winter but incredibly hot in summer. Does anyone object– despite what the claims of the US Navy– if I make the correction?

merci, --UnicornTapestry (talk) 07:01, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

The website of Meteo France also describes the Mistral as a cold wind. I live in Provence also, in Toulon, where the Mistral is always a cold wind, summer or winter. If you wish to call it other than a cold wind, I would request that you cite a reputable source. SiefkinDR (talk) 16:30, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Strange cold temperatures 37-40°, no? --UnicornTapestry (talk) 07:12, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

That does sound strange. Are you sure it was the Mistral? there are warm winds that come from the same direction. I've been looking, and every official source I've checked calls the Mistral a cold wind, by the nature of the weather systems that create it. Can you cite a reliable source that calls it a warm wind? Then the article can be modified. SiefkinDR (talk) 15:09, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

The wind that continuously sweeps down the Rhône is the Mistral, no? You mention other winds, but we know only the name Mistral. When I was young, the summers of 1979-1980 were so incredibly hot we took cold baths several times a day. In 2003, hundreds died from the heat (and thousands across France). Le Gardon dried to a trickle. So, my thermometer says it's cold except when it's hot. Leave it if you wish, maybe it is other winds, but when the Paris experts come south, perhaps they should step off the air-conditioned TGV some time. --UnicornTapestry (talk) 21:00, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Folklore

In 1972 I took a summer course in Avignon and boarded with a French family. Not very astute in science, they told me that, although the Mistral typically lasts 2 or 3 days, if it starts on Friday, it will end by Saturday to avoid spoiling the weekend. They claimed to have observed this many times. If this is widely believed, it might be worthy of inclusion. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dynzmoar (talk • contribs) 12:08, 19 August 2017 (UTC)