Mistral

[Gardian]

Unless you've experienced it, it's hard to explain.

The current one has been blowing for over a week now and is really getting us down. I was outside all day today and came back in at 16.00 feeling completely battered. It's just very tiring, to say nothing of all the stuff that comes off the trees.

The Mistral isn't unusual, but this probably only the 2nd time in 10 yrs that it has gone on so long.

Strange thing - it abates overnight, then gets going again mid - morning. Anybody know why that happens?

Oh well, according to the Meteo, tomorrow is the last day of it. Mark you, they're notoriously hopeless at forecasting!

[Gardengirl]

Don't know why it should die down overnight, Gardian, but I know why things are set to improve - we're packing ready to drive down!

The jump from our maximum expected temperature in the SE of England of 18C to that in our place in the Gard, 28C, is concerning though - feet in the pool I think!

[idun]

I'm glad it is going to stop this week. I know that it can go on for weeks at a time and it can and does cause depression. When it is bad they usually mention it on national news and I cannot remember them mentioning it for quite some time.

[nomoss]

It's similar to the Tramontane which has been blowing here for some days, and similar winds in other countries, caused by low pressure systems in the Mediterranean basin.

They just make more fuss about it in PACA [:D]

[Pierre ZFP]

It will die down overnight due to the land cooling relative to the sea, it starts up the next day as the sun warms the land again and you get a pressure differential between the land (high) and as Nomoss says, low pressure in the Med.

Don't get depressed, just buy a kite and enjoy it  [:D]

[Gardian]

Thanks for that Pierre - even I can understand that!

Your real name isn't Michel Poisson by any chance?

[Val_2]

[quote user="nomoss"]It's similar to the Tramontane which has been blowing here for some days, and similar winds in other countries, caused by low pressure systems in the Mediterranean basin.

They just make more fuss about it in PACA [:D]

[/quote]

Yes, my son in Perpignan has been moaning about the Tramontane this week and all the dust and dirt keep blowing indoors as its too hot to have the windows shut. For him its a new thing being used to gales here in the NW which die out as quick as they come but this wind coming off the Pyrenees which he can look at from his balcony is getting to him.

[NormanH]

At least it blows the clouds out to sea and leaves lovely cleat skies and sunshine..(28° here today) but also has a cooling effect so that the heat is more tolerable than in the centre of France and the South West away from the sea.

The constant buffeting of the wind used to be considered a mitigating factor in cases of violent crime, or so the old wives' tale says.

[Gardengirl]

We arrived back in the Gard this afternoon and went straight for a cool drink at our favourite café in the square. The owner went on at great length about the winds recently; she's a local but kept on about how dreadful it had been over the last couple of weeks. I told her she should be glad we sent it on it's way!

It was 28C when we arrived this afternoon, with a lovely slight breeze, forecast to be similar tomorrow, market day.

We ate out this evening at a restaurant with an enormous terrace, with their awnings and all their parasols still out. We had 2 sudden showers of enormous drops of rain, luckily short-lasting, but which had people quickly tucking their tables and chairs securely under shelter. We've known that terrace to have a huge downpour, with floods pouring off their awnings out of a totally blue sky. I think they are accident prone.