A hot, dry, southeasterly wind that blows across North Africa and the Mediterranean region, also spelled ghibli.
From Arabic 'qibla' or 'gibli', originally referring to the direction of Mecca (southwest), which later came to mean the wind from that direction. The term entered European languages through Mediterranean trade and travel.
The gibli wind is so hot and intense that it can cause sandstorms and dust that reaches Europe—it's named after a cardinal direction in Islam, which shows how weather terminology can come from completely unexpected places!
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