La Tramontane

It’s said to blow for three, six, or nine days.

It was noted by Marco Polo at the end of the 13^th Century.

It has gusts up to 75 mph.

Not typical at all for the season, La Tramontane winds continue to blow.  Springtime here is usually filled with foggy days and cool nights, but strange meteorological patterns have brought the North- Northwestern winds back.  Wreaking havoc on the garden, the winds have left us indoor, temporarily abandoning projects and relighting the wood heater.  The prosperity of spring has temporarily been forgotten while looking out from the inside of a window.  In the garden, flowers have been pulled off from their stems and leaves have been burned from the whipping winds.  Nature will repair itself, but the colors and lush growth of the season is over for this year.

I don’t know what day it is – six, nine, maybe even twelve if a three day cycle restarted.  The winds tend to make me forget night and day, let alone what day of the week it is or how long the winds have been blowing.  It’s said to do that to those not from the region and there is no magic cure to develop a strong affiliation for it.  I just have to wait, hopefully only three more days.

The Winter Winds

Winter continues to rear its ugly head; record cold temperatures are appearing all across France and Europe.  Being from Chicago, I am used to cold winters, but winter here is not just about cold temperatures, but the wind.  The wind here is notorious.  It whips at hurricane speeds, rattles windows, and knocks down everything in its path.  As Christophe says, “If it’s not build with the wind in mind, it will just break.”  And he’s right.  I’ve seen fences blown over and clay tiles ripped away from rooftops.  It brings blowing snow from 40 miles away, and is a topic of discussion that bring contempt and frustration.

            But oddly enough, for those who grew up with it, there is an affection for the wind.  In Languedoc, the south east region of France, the wind coming from the North-Northwest is called La Tramontane, which is said to blow in cycles of three; 3 days, 6 days, or 9 days.  The wreckage a storm leaves is consequential, but natives cannot imagine living without this metrological force.

            About ten years ago, a study was done to install windmills on the crest that surrounds the village.  It only seemed logical to harvest this force as a renewable energy source. After numerous failed attempts to correctly measure the wind’s speed, the project was eventually abandoned because the winds were too strong.  The last recorded wind speed was 112 mph, before the machine snapped in two.  But this force has been known for centuries; the village, which was built in the Middle Ages, has neither a door nor a window facing the wind.

The winds are often at their most violent during winter.  So, once again, I’ll hunker down in front of the chimney until it passes and think about those dreary Chicago winters with nostalgia.