Wind

There is a mighty gusting wind striking and lashing my house. A front moved through earlier and trailed the pounding waves of turbulence in its wake. At 40 to 50 MPH it shakes the timbers and rattles the rafters.

Winds can be deadly, devastating, common and gentle. In any of them, you can't see it unless debris and dust give it form. Wind is a silent sleuth that quickly alters our security or soothes our nerves.

Throughout time we have given various types of wind names that have stayed and even been immortalized in song. Maria comes to mind from the musical Paint Your Wagon. The Santa Ana’s in California are destructive. Nor’easters in Northeast America are either blizzards or pelting rain. Tornadoes are everywhere.

In other cultures and places, the names of the winds are extensive.

Bise, a dry wind funneled over the Alps.
Mistral, a cold wind over the Mediterranean coast.
Brickfielder, a summer wind in SE Australia.
Sirocco, a hot, dry, dusty wind from the Sahara.
Chinook, warm air coming down the Rocky Mountains.

My favorite of all names is because of its gentle nature.

Zephyrs. May we have more of them in our lives.