Yellow Fang
Legendary Member
- Location
- Reading
Why does the wind only howl when it's freezing cold? I'm sure it doesn't sound like the same when it's warmer, even when it's blowing hard.
Question for meteorologists
- Thread starter Yellow Fang
- Start date
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Hover Fly
He, him, his
- Location
- Besides the lake, beneath the trees
Wild guesses:
Perhaps because the trees have no leaves in winter?
Cold air is denser so "hits" things harder?
Perhaps because the trees have no leaves in winter?
Cold air is denser so "hits" things harder?
Fnaar
Smutmaster General
- Location
- Thumberland
When I was a kid, there was a row of conifers opposite the house... on windy days, summer or winter, the wind howled through them. It went wooooOOOOOOOoooooooo woooooOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOOooooooo! I can still hear it now
vernon
Harder than Ronnie Pickering
- Location
- Meanwood, Leeds
It went wooooOOOOOOOoooooooo woooooOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOOooooooo! I can still hear it now
That's tinnitus.....
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
When I was a kid, there was a row of conifers opposite the house... on windy days, summer or winter, the wind howled through them. It went wooooOOOOOOOoooooooo woooooOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOOooooooo! I can still hear it now
Nah, it's the ghost of Casey Jones
Ravenbait
Someone's imaginary friend
- Location
- The Seventh Level of Hell
I don't think there's anything specific about the air that changes the wind noise. Up here it howls all year round. Mostly through the open-fronted building but especially around the fencing and the lamposts.
It could, and I'm guessing here, be something to do with surrounding foliage. In the summer the wind will be baffled by leaves. In winter the wind will hit the bare branches and I expect the wake effects and resonance in the wood could have something to do with the change in sound.
If you're talking urban, though, it's either because where you live the winds tend to be stronger in the winter, it's a psychological effect caused by the weather looking more bleak and "howly", or something to do with air temperature that it's far too early for me to work out right now. I haven't had any coffee yet.
Sam (oceanographer rather than meteorologist, but I did some meteorology)
It could, and I'm guessing here, be something to do with surrounding foliage. In the summer the wind will be baffled by leaves. In winter the wind will hit the bare branches and I expect the wake effects and resonance in the wood could have something to do with the change in sound.
If you're talking urban, though, it's either because where you live the winds tend to be stronger in the winter, it's a psychological effect caused by the weather looking more bleak and "howly", or something to do with air temperature that it's far too early for me to work out right now. I haven't had any coffee yet.
Sam (oceanographer rather than meteorologist, but I did some meteorology)
OP
OP
Yellow Fang
Legendary Member
- Location
- Reading
I will have to make a point of listening to the wind when it's warmer. It was howling quite a bit a couple of nights ago, and I doubt it's anything to do with tree foliage. The only tree nearby is a fir pine and it still has its leaves pine needles foliage. It's not as if it's particularly windy. It's odd how it's a cold sound.
