Warm, dry wind events blowing down from mountain slopes, called foehns, are a meteorological phenomenon typically associated with the European Alps or the Rocky Mountains of North America.
However, in recent decades, foehn winds in Japan have caused record-breaking hazardous warm weather events, bringing renewed interest in the behavior of these winds in this part of the world.
In a new study published in the International Journal of Climatology, a research team led by the University of Tsukuba has presented the first comprehensive climatological study of Japan’s south foehn, a windstorm that originates from the Backbone Mountain Range and is observed along the coast of the Sea of Japan, including in the Toyama Plain in northwestern Honshu. [Read more…] about The when and why of foehn warming in northwestern Japan