A warm, dry wind that flows down the lee side of mountains, particularly in the Alps.
From German 'Föhn', derived from Latin 'favonius' (the West Wind in Roman mythology), referring to warm winds that descend after crossing mountain barriers.
The foehn phenomenon baffled people until thermodynamics explained it—warm air rises, cools as it climbs mountains, loses moisture, then descends and re-heats, arriving much warmer and drier than when it started.
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