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Williwaw
In meteorology, a williwaw (archaic spelling williwau) is a sudden blast of wind descending from a mountainous coast to the sea. The word is of unknown origin, but was earliest used by British seamen in the 19th century. The usage appears for winds found in the Strait of Magellan, the Aleutian Islands and the coastal fjords of the Alaskan Panhandle, where the terms ''outflow wind'' and '' squamish wind'' are also used for the same phenomenon. On Greenland the word '' piteraq'' is used. The williwaw results from the descent of cold, dense air from coastal mountains in high latitudes. Thus the williwaw is considered a type of katabatic wind. In popular culture *Gore Vidal's first novel, '' Williwaw'' (1946), based on a ship in the Aleutian Islands, features the williwaw. *In the '' Deadliest Catch'' episode "Finish Line", the ship ''Aleutian Ballad'' crabbed within a williwaw, when a rogue wave damaged the ship and knocked her on her side. *The novel '' Williwaw!'' by Tom Bodett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Williwaw (1946 Novel)
''Williwaw'' is the debut novel of Gore Vidal, written when he was 19 and first mate of a U.S. Army supply ship stationed in the Aleutian Islands. The story combines war drama, maritime adventure and a murder plot. The book was first published in 1946 in the United States by E.P. Dutton. Williwaw is the term, widely thought to be Native American in origin, for a sudden, violent Katabatic wind common to the Aleutian Islands. Plot summary The story is set on a U.S. ship in the Arctic waters around the Aleutians in the Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ... in the middle of the local storm season during World War II. The nervousness and tension of the crew and a handful of passengers at the approach of the williwaw is stretched to breaking point when th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strait Of Magellan
The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the strait is approximately long and wide at its narrowest point. In 1520, the Spanish expedition of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, after whom the strait is named, became the first Europeans to discover it. Magellan's original name for the strait was ''Estrecho de Todos los Santos'' ("Strait of All Saints"). The King of Spain, Emperor Charles V, who sponsored the Magellan-Elcano expedition, changed the name to the Strait of Magellan in honor of Magellan. The route is difficult to navigate due to frequent narrows and unpredictable winds and currents. Maritime piloting is now compulsory. The strait is shorter and more sheltered than the Drake Passage, the often storm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katabatic Wind
A katabatic wind (named ) is a downslope wind caused by the flow of an elevated, high-density air mass into a lower-density air mass below under the force of gravity. The spelling catabatic is also used. Since air density is strongly dependent on temperature, the high-density air mass is usually cooler, and the katabatic winds are relatively cool or cold. Examples of katabatic winds include the downslope valley and mountain breezes, the piteraq winds of Greenland, the Bora in the Adriatic, the Bohemian Wind or ''Böhmwind'' in the Ore Mountains, the Santa Ana winds in southern California, the oroshi in Japan, or "the Barber" in New Zealand. Not all downslope winds are katabatic. For instance, winds such as the föhn and chinook are rain shadow winds where air driven upslope on the windward side of a mountain range drops its moisture and descends leeward drier and warmer. Mechanism A katabatic wind originates from the difference of density of two air masses located ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual norms he perceived as driving American life. Vidal was heavily involved in politics, and unsuccessfully sought office twice as a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party candidate, first in 1960 to the United States House of Representatives (for New York), and later in 1982 to the United States Senate (for California). A grandson of U.S. Senator Thomas Gore, Vidal was born into an upper-class political family. As a political commentator and essayist, Vidal's primary focus was the History of the United States, history and society of the United States, especially how a militaristic Foreign policy of the United States, foreign policy reduced the country to a American imperialism, decadent empire. His political and cultural essays w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Bodett
Thomas Edward Bodett ( ; born February 23, 1955) is an American author, voice actor, woodworker and radio personality, primarily as a host, correspondent and panelist for a number of shows that air on National Public Radio (NPR). Since 1986, he has been the spokesman for the motel chain Motel 6, ending commercials with the phrase, "I'm Tom Bodett for Motel 6, and we'll leave the light on for you." Personal background Thomas Edward Bodett was born on February 23, 1955, in Champaign, Illinois, and raised in Sturgis, Michigan. , he resided in Dummerston, Vermont, where he is a member of the town's board of selectmen. After moving to Vermont, Bodett took up woodworking. In 2019, he co-founded HatchSpace, a non-profit workshop in Brattleboro, Vermont, where residents can use tools and collaborate with others. Career Spokesperson Motel 6 In 1986, Bodett was building houses in Homer, Alaska, and contributing to NPR's ''All Things Considered''. A creative director at the Richards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Squamish (wind)
A squamish (also known as an Arctic outflow wind in winter months) is a strong and often violent wind occurring in many of the fjords, inlets and valleys of British Columbia. Squamishes occur in those fjords oriented in a northeast–southwest or east–west direction where cold polar air can be funneled westward, the opposite of how the wind generally flows on the Coast. These winds in winter can create high windchills by coastal standards of . They are notable in Jervis, Toba, and Bute Inlets and in Dean Channel and the Portland Canal. Squamishes lose their strength when free of the confining fjords and are not noticeable more than 25 km offshore. In Northern Washington including Lynden and Bellingham, and Lower Mainland, including Eastern Vancouver Island, of British Columbia, they are mainly referred to as outflow winds, they are noticeable especially in the winter, when a cold Arctic air mass holding in the high plateau country of the interior flows down to the sea t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piteraq
A piteraq is a cold katabatic wind which originates on the Greenlandic icecap and sweeps down the east coast. The word "piteraq" means "that which attacks you" in the local language.Danish Meteorological InstituteThe Observed Climate of Greenland, 1958–99 p. 96 Piteraqs are most common in the autumn and winter. Wind speeds typically reach 50 to 80 m/s (180–288 km/h; 111–178 mph). Causes The Greenland ice sheet cools the air directly above it. Colder air is denser, and it sinks, forming a separate layer of cold air in between warmer air. A piteraq is triggered by low pressure systems off the east coast of Greenland. Piteraqs affect not only coastal towns, but also large areas of the sea to the east of Greenland. On February 6, 1970, at about 6:00 PM, the community of Tasiilaq was hit by the worst documented piteraq ever in Greenland (estimated at 90 m/s — about 325 km/h or 200 mph) (Stronger than a category five Atlantic hurricane) causing severe damag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sergeant Preston Of The Yukon (TV Series)
''Sergeant Preston of the Yukon'' is a half-hour long American action adventure northwestern television series, broadcast in color on CBS Thursday evenings at 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. from September 29, 1955, to September 25, 1958. It was based on the radio drama ''Challenge of the Yukon.'' Synopsis Richard Simmons starred as Sergeant Preston, who patrolled the Yukon Territory in search of renegades and outlaws, during the time of the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s.Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946 – Present, 1st Edition'', pages 553 - 554, Ballantine Books, 1979 In every episode, Preston was assisted by his Alaskan Malamute Yukon King, who had been raised by a female wolf. In episodes taking place during the summer he rode his horse Rex.Ken Beck & Jim Clark, ''The Encyclopedia of TV Pets'' (ebook), Thomas Nelson, 2002 The show's theme music was the overture to Emil von Reznicek's opera '' Donna Diana''. As ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meteorology
Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture, construction, weather warnings and disaster management. Along with climatology, atmospheric physics and atmospheric chemistry, meteorology forms the broader field of the atmospheric sciences. The interactions between Earth's atmosphere and its oceans (notably El Niño and La Niña) are studied in the interdisciplinary field of hydrometeorology. Other interdisciplinary areas include biometeorology, space weather and planetary meteorology. Marine weather forecasting relates meteorology to maritime and coastal safety, based on atmospheric interactions with large bodies of water. Meteorologists study meteorological phenomena driven by solar radiation, Earth's rotation, ocean currents and other factors. These include everyday ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FV Scandies Rose
FV ''Scandies Rose'' (Fishing Vessel ''Scandies Rose'') was a crab fishing vessel built in 1978 by Bender Shipbuilding out of Mobile, Alabama. Originally named ''Enterprise'', she was registered in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. She mainly fished for king crabs, opilio crabs, and Pacific cod, in both the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. The sinking of the vessel became more widely known due to its relation to the reality TV-show ''Deadliest Catch''. On 31 December 2019, at approximately 22:00 Alaska Standard Time, the United States Coast Guard received a distress call from the crab fishing vessel ''Scandies Rose''. The vessel was on its way from Kodiak, Alaska to the Bering Sea to fish crabs. At this point the vessel was around from Sutwik Island. Only minutes later, the vessel sank. Only two out of the seven crew members survived and were found by the coast guard. According to the two survivors, ''Scandies Rose'' began accumulating ice on her starboard side between roughly 02:00 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Scooby-Doo Show
''The Scooby-Doo Show'' is an American animated mystery comedy series. The title of the series is an umbrella term for episodes of the third incarnation of Hanna-Barbera's ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. A total of 40 episodes ran for three seasons, from 1976 to 1978, on ABC, marking the first ''Scooby Doo'' series to appear on the channel. Sixteen episodes aired as segments of '' The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour'' in 1976, while eight aired as part of '' Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics'' in 1977. A final set of sixteen episodes came out in 1978, with eight running individually under the ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' name and the remaining eight as segments of '' Scooby's All-Stars''. Despite the yearly changes in how they were broadcast, the 1976–1978 stretch of ''Scooby-Doo'' episodes represents, at three seasons, the longest-running format of the original show before the addition of Scrappy-Doo. The episodes from all of the three seasons have been rerun under the title ''The Scoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mad Amos
Alan Dean Foster (born November 18, 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction. He has written several book series, more than 20 standalone novels, and many novelizations of film scripts. Career ''Star Wars'' Foster was the ghostwriter of the original novelization of ''Star Wars'', which was credited solely to George Lucas. When asked if it was difficult for him to see Lucas get all the credit for ''Star Wars'', Foster said, "Not at all. It was George's story idea. I was merely expanding upon it. Not having my name on the cover didn't bother me in the least. It would be akin to a contractor demanding to have his name on a Frank Lloyd Wright house." Foster also wrote the follow-up novel ''Splinter of the Mind's Eye'' (1978), written with the intention of being adapted as a low-budget sequel to ''Star Wars'' if the film was unsuccessful. However, ''Star Wars'' was a blockbusting success, and ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) would be developed instead. Foster's st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
