Large Amplitude Lee Waves and Chinook Winds

Abstract

Four types of chinook winds are described and features detectable in satellite pictures are shown. The hypothesis that large amplitude lee waves could be a possible driving mechanism for chinook winds is investigated for a case occurring in the Rocky Mountains during April 1963. It is shown that the stability of the surface inversion layer on the windward side of a mountain is related to the occurrence of chinook winds to the leeward side. This relationship leads to the speculation that chinook winds may undergo a quasi-diurnal fluctuation, in phase with the onset of the windward surface inversion.