Monday, November 17, 2014

The Williwaw

Patagonia has very long days in the summer with the sun rising at 4:30am and setting at around 10:30pm.  Daytime offers warm weather with cool evenings, sometimes even resulting in frosty nights even in the summer month due to the relief of the Sea winds and the cool climate of the mountain ranges.  The region experiences humid climates with a generous amount of rain through out the year.

The Williwaw is time of year where Southern Patagonia experiences higher winds that are generated by the changing pressure between the ice and the sea and come down over the mountain tops.  Variations of pressure can occur from cold conditions which create conditions of dense, sinking air with high pressure and higher temperatures that create expanding air, rising air and low pressure systems.  Combined with the rotation of the earth surface, different belt variation patterns are created. 

There are three mechanisms that will result in air rising; convection, cyclonic, orographic.  Southern Patagonia and the surrounding South American regions are considered to have the highest gravity wave activity in the entire world.  Strong surface winds near the Andes and strong low surface winds proliferates cyclones that towards the South Pacific Ocean.  The orography of this region changes on a day to day basis over a total of a 72 hour period in a specific event measured over the Drake Passage.



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