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WHAT IS A CHINOOK?

METEOROLOGIST JEFF HABY

A chinook is a wind most notable in the northern high plains that brings in drier and warmer weather. One of the main reasons for the change in the weather is the sloped elevation. When air moves from the higher elevations of the west it downslopes as it moves east. Since the air is downsloping the temperature and relative humidity of the air will change adiabatically. Sinking air warms at the dry adiabatic lapse rate. When this warmer air replaces a very cold polar air mass the temperature increase can be dramatic. Another name for the chinook is "snow eater" since the warm and dry air quickly melts and evaporates snow away that is on the ground. The air at the high elevations tends to be dry (low dewpoint). When air downslopes it dries the air even more since the relative humidity decreases. As the temperature of air warms as it downslopes the temperature and dewpoint diverge (dewpoint depression becomes greater). As the dewpoint depression increases the relative humidity decreases. The chinook is most notable in the winter in the northern high plains.