Winds of Provence

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The winds of the Mediterranean
Tramontane Gregale Levante Sirocco Ostro Libeccio Ponente Mistral

The winds of Provence, the region of southeast France along the Mediterranean from the Alps to the mouth of the Rhone River, are an important feature of Provençal life, and each one has a traditional local name, in the Provençal language.

The most famous Provençal winds are:

• the Mistral, a cold dry north or northwest wind, which blows down through the Rhone Valley to the Mediterranean, and can reach speeds of ninety kilometers an hour.
• the Levant, a very humid east wind, which brings moisture from the eastern Mediterranean.
• the Tramontane, a strong, cold and dry north wind, similar to the Mistral, which blows from the Massif Central mountains toward the Mediterranean to the west of the Rhone.
• the Marin, a strong, wet and cloudy south wind, which blows in from the Gulf of Lion.
• the Sirocco, a southeast wind coming from the Sahara desert in Africa, can reach hurricane force, and brings either reddish dust or heavy rains.

The Provençal names for the winds are very similar to the names in the closely related Catalan language:

• Tramontana (Pr.) = Tramuntana (Catalan)
• Levant (Pr.) = Llevant (Catalan)
• Mistral (Pr.) = Mestral (Catalan)