Drive my dead thoughts over the universe,
Like wither’d leaves, to quicken a new birth;
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawaken’d earth …
Percy Bysshe Shelley: Ode To The West Wind
I have never thought or talked about the wind.
Oh sure, when it was really windy back in Pennsylvania I might have made some remark like “boy, is it windy today”, but I never dwelled on it. Pennsylvania, where I have lived most of my life, is not a windy state. There might be a severe thunderstorm with high winds, we might catch the tail end of a hurricane passing through and once in a great while we might have a hurricane land full force, but all in all it is not a windy state. Since moving to Karystos the wind is always in my thoughts. not a day goes by that we don’t talk about the wind, usually something like “isn’t this wind ever going to stop?”
Our apartment faces north and when the wind is blowing we can’t open the north terrace doors. On the terrace the wind blows blows away anything that’s not nailed down and inside it covers everything in a brown dust. If we close the shutters and leave the doors open the noise is so intense it can drive you crazy.
In February and March when it is blowing and raining, the rain is horizontal.
I can now appreciate the fact that the ancient Greeks worshipped the wind Gods and I have a better understanding and feeling of what Odysseus went through when I recently re-read the Oddessy.
When the Meltemi is blowing hard its not unusual to see tables and chairs being blown across the main square in town, parked motor bikes being blown over, and I’m quite sure I will eventually see somebody blowing by as I watch. The Greeks here have a word for it, καρεκλατος, [kareklatos] which roughly translates to chairblower or chair taker.
Just a few kilometers away in Marmari, the wind does not blow as hard and in Kokkini when the wind is at 6 Beaufort (25-30 MPH) here there is but a gentle breeze blowing.
The climate in Greece is typical of the Mediterranean climate; mild and rainy winters, relatively warm and dry summers and, generally, extended periods of sunshine throughout most of the year. In the Mediterranean there is a great diversity of climate sub-types, always within the climate parameters, and they are encountered in several regions of Greece. This is due to the influence of topography (great mountain chains along the central part and other mountainous bodies) on the air masses coming from the moisture sources of the central Mediterranean Sea. The weather in Greece varies from the dry climate of Athens and East Greece in general, to the wet climate of Northern and Western Greece.
The island of Evia is less than 10 miles wide at Karystos and the southern end of Evia is just eight miles away. On the east side of Evia is the deep Aegean Sea with it’s deep currents, and on the west side, the relatively shallow and protected large Gulf of Evia. To the back of us are the peaks of Mount Ochi, Profitis (1399m – 4590 ft), Giouda (1386m – 4597 ft.), and Boublia (1227m – 4026 ft.). Between the peaks of Giouda and Boublia is a deep ravine that cuts between the northern parts of Ochi to form the Dimosaris Gorge. The northern side of the mountain has steep forested slopes and lush ravines that drop abruptly into the sea. The southern slopes towards Karystos are gentle with limestone rock ridges protruding at intervals.
All of these factors come together to create the strong winds we experience here in Karystos, especially when the Etesian or Meltimi wind starts blowing in the summer.
Wind Speed [ref]http://www.njadams.com/beaufort-wind-scale/[/ref]
Greece and most of Europe use the Beaufort scale to measure wind speed. The Beaufort scale is a visual scale and one of the first scales to estimate wind speeds and the effects. It was developed in 1805 by Britain’s Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857) to help sailors estimate the winds via visual observations. The scale starts with 0 and goes to a force of 12.
Wind Effects
The mountains in back of us have two effects on the wind anabatic and katabatic.
Anabatic, from the Greek anabatos, verbal of anabainein meaning moving upward, this wind blows up a steep slope or mountain side. It is also known as an upslope flow. These winds typically occur during the daytime in calm sunny weather. A hill or mountain top will be radiatively warmed by the Sun which in turn heats the air just above it.
Katabatic, from the Greek word katabatikos meaning “going downhill”, this wind blows down a topographic incline such as a hill, mountain, or glacier. Such winds, particularly when they occur over a wide area, are sometimes called fall winds. Californians refer to their great katabatic wind as the Mono wind. So if the Meltimi is blowing at 4 Beaufort (13-17 MPH) Karystos might have winds of 6 to 8 Beaufort (25-46 MPH).
Types of Wind
There are several types of wind that blow in Greece.
Meltimi or Etesians wind: The strong, dry north winds of the Aegean Sea, which blow from about mid-May to mid-September. They are at their
strongest in the afternoon and often die down at night, but sometimes meltemi winds last for days without a break. Similar winds blow in the Adriatic and Ionian regions. Meltemi winds are dangerous to sailors because they come up in clear weather without warning and can blow at 7-8 Beaufort (32 to 46 MPH). Some yachts and most inter island ferries cannot sail when the Meltimi is blowing hard. In the Northern Aegean sea, the etesians blow as winds of northeasterly to northerly direction. Moving south, in the central Aegean, they blow as winds of northerly direction, while, in the southern Aegean, the Cretan and the Carpathian sea, they blow as northwesterlies. The same winds blow in Cyprus as westerlies to southwesterlies, being more humid.
Boreas: An ancient Greek name for north winds. Also called bora. The term may originally have meant “wind from the mountains” and thus the present term Bora.
Euros: The rainy, stormy southeast wind.
Eurus: The East wind.
Notus: The South wind,which usually bring high humidity.
Zephyros or Zephyrus: The ancient Greek name for the west wind, which is generally light and beneficial. It has evolved into “zephyr” which denotes a soft gentle breeze.
Sirocco: The Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and reaches hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe. It is known in North Africa by the Arabic word qibli or ghibli. The Sirocco causes dusty dry conditions along the northern coast of Africa, storms in the Mediterranean Sea, and cold wet weather in Europe. The Sirocco’s duration may be as short as half a day or may last several days. Many people attribute health problems to the Sirocco either because of the heat and dust along the African coastal regions or because of the cool dampness in Europe. The dust within the Sirocco winds can cause abrasion in mechanical devices and penetrate buildings. Sirocco winds with speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour (62 MPH) are most common during the autumn and the spring. They reach a peak in March and in November when it is very hot. Thank goodness this wind does not blow here often, twice since 2005 that we noticed, but when it does the sky is covered with a reddish brown haze that looks like dense smog, and the dust settles everywhere.
The Wind in Greek Mythology
The offspring of the Titans Hyperion and Thia are Helius (the Sun), Selene (the Moon), and Eos (the Dawn). Eos (Dawn) was a goddess perpetually in love. Eos consorted with Astraeus, the son of the Titan Criusand Eurybia, daughter of Pontus (Sea) and Gaia (Earth). They gave birth to the winds and to the stars.
The Anemoi[ref]An Anemometer is an instrument used to measure wind speed[/ref] (in Greek, Ἄνεμοι — “winds”) were wind gods who were each assigned a cardinal direction, from which their respective winds came, and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions. They were sometimes represented as mere gusts of wind, at other times were personified as winged men, and at still other times were depicted as horses kept in the stables of the storm god Aeolus, who provided Odysseus with the Anemoi in the Odyssey.
The Four Major Winds or Anemoi in mythology
Boreas: The north wind which brought the cold winter air. Boreas was a rogue who once fell in love with some mares that grazed in the fields of Attica and, transforming himself into a dark-maned stallion, covered them and twelve stallions were born. On another occasion, when Orithyia, daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens, was playing by the river Ilissus she was carried off by Boreas, and because of this tie between Boreas and the Athenians he helped them by destroying enemy ships many years later. Boreas had courted Orythia a long time, and had begged the king to give her to him, but as words proved to be in vain she took her by force. Some say that Boreas has serpents’ tails instead of feet. Boreas lives in Scythia and the extreme north, according to some, but others say he lives in Thrace.
Notus: The south wind and bringer of the storms of late summer and autumn.
Zephyrus: The west wind and bringer of light spring and early summer breezes.
Eurus: The east wind, was not associated with any of the three Greek seasons, and is the only one of these four Anemoi not mentioned in Hesiod’s Theogony or in the Orphic Hymns.
Additionally, lesser or minor winds were sometimes mentioned, representing the northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest winds. They appear in a few ancient sources, such as at the Tower of the Winds in Athens.
Hesiod and Homer described these four minor Anemoi as the Anemoi Thuellai ( Άνεμοι θύελλαι; ; Greek: “Tempest-Winds”), wicked and violent daemons (spirits) created by the monster Typhon, and male counterparts to the harpies, who were also called Thuellai. [ref]The spirits of the violent storm winds, sons of the monstrous storm-giant Typhoeus. They were kept locked away inside the floating island of Aiolos to be released only at the command of the gods to wreak their havoc[/ref] These were the winds held in Aeolus’s stables; the other four, “heavenly” Anemoi were not kept locked up. Later writers confused and combined the two groups of Anemoi, and the distinction was largely forgotten.
The Four Minor Winds in mythology
Kaikias: The Greek deity of the northeast wind. He is shown as a bearded man with a shield full of hail-stones, and his name derives from the Ancient Greek kaka (κακία), “badness” or “evil”. Kakia is also the name of a spirit of vice, the sister of Arete (“virtue”).
Apeliotes: The Greek deity of the southeast wind. As this wind was thought to cause a refreshing rain particularly beneficial to farmers, he is often depicted wearing galoshes and carrying fruit, draped in a light cloth concealing some flowers or grain. He is clean-shaven, with curly hair and a friendly expression. Because Apeliotes was a minor god, he was often combined with Eurus, the east wind.
Skiron, or Skeiron: The Greek god of the northwest wind. His name is related to Skirophorion, the last of the three months of spring in the Attic festival calendar. He is depicted as a bearded man tilting a cauldron, representing the onset of winter.
Livas: The Greek deity of the southwest wind, often depicted holding the stern of a ship.
The cold North wind Boreas and the West wind Zephyrus have been more personified while the Etesian or annual winds also known as the Meltemi, the strong dry North wind which was granted by Zeus to temper the heat when the Dog (Canis Major) rises, have not been personified.
It is said that Aeolus, having entertained Odysseus, gave him a bag in which he had bound fast the winds.
So there you have it, probably more than you wanted to know about the wind here in Greece.
But don’t let that discourage you from visiting Greece. When there is just a gentle breeze blowing It’s great here in Karystos.
This summer[ref]The summer of 2006 is one of the windiest on record for Karystos[/ref] has been an exception, one of the windiest summers on record. None of the locals can remember a windier summer. Hopefully it is just an anomaly and will not repeat.
I opened with an excerpt from Shelley’s Ode To The West Wind and I’ll close with another poem.
O’ wind beautiful wind
I want to see you
Where you come from where you go
You bring his thoughts while you blow
I grow weary for I miss him
Bring the message of my dreams
O’ wind beautiful wind
I want to see you
I can feel you but wish to touch you
I can hear you but wanna talk to you
When you pass by me
I feel my love’s touching me
O’ wind beautiful wind
I want to see you
O’ Wind Beautiful Wind…Joanna Kantharia
You wanna see wind? Come on down to Karystos and I’ll show you wind!
Reference:
Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemoi
Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etesian