Forbes’ Forays

Mike Forbes is a retired Royal Naval commander who lives in London with his wife. His first visit to Croatia was in the year 2000.

Mediterranean Winds

I have long admired the Croatian - indeed the Mediterranean - practice of naming the various winds that affect their land mass and islands. Bearing in mind that any wind is a moving mass of air, then the direction whence it comes is what characterises a wind. Thus the Croatian bura, or bora, blows from the north-east while the jugo comes from the south-east. Everyone in Croatia seems to know what these winds signify in their daily lives. The bura brings fresh, cool air with sunshine and a feeling of optimism, while the jugo (see below) is a damp, warmish airmass that seems to bring headaches and a more pessimistic slant on life.

Croatian Jugo

These characteristics are no more than a reflection of the earth's surface over which these parcels of air have travelled, just as a Siberian arriving on your doorstep might have snow on his boots. This is true of moving airmasses over the world, not just Croatia or the Mediterranean. The theory is just as applicable in Britain and my plea to my countrymen is that we similarly give our winds - or airmasses - names as the sensible Croatians do.

Thus the prevalent south-westerly wind that brings our cloud and rain and irrigates the largely agricultural regions of Cornwall and Devon, and accounts for the greenness of Ireland, should be called, say, the Cornish. So the forecaster will predict the Cornish, and everyone would know to expect warmish weather with low cloud with drizzle or rain. The north-westerly, on the other hand, is more akin to your bura. It is much fresher, with showers and sunny periods; visibility is usually excellent. I would call it the Ulster, the provincial name for Northern Ireland. Winds from the other directions, such as the cold northerly and the warm but dry south-easterly, also have their identifiable properties and could be similarly named and recognised by the general population.

So, British meteorologists, please take a leaf out of the Croatian book and get naming!

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