Bise

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Contents 1 France 2 Switzerland 3 Etymology 4 References

[edit] France

The bise is a northern wind, cold and generally dry, that blows from the north-east of France to the south of the Massif Central, where it is called bise noire ("black bise"). The bise can also come from the north-east in Touraine and Quercy and even from the east in Deux-Sèvres.

Blowing year-round, the bise is usually accompanied by clear blue skies. However, it can sometimes bring heavy black clouds, storms and hail in autumn and winter.

[edit] Switzerland

In Switzerland the bise blows from the north-east, above all during the winter months, and is due to a high-pressure cell north-west of Switzerland.^[1] The effects of the bise are strongest in Geneva, situated in a narrow passage between the Jura mountains in the West and the Alps in the South. Many foreign travellers to this Swiss city have commented upon it.^[2][3]

[edit] Etymology

The term entered Middle English from French bise. Its origin is unknown.^[4] The Alemannic Wikipedia article Biise claims it to derive from Old Alemannic bîsa of unknown meaning.^[5]

[edit] References

1. ^ Martin Beniston, From Turbulence to Climate: Numerical Investigations of the Atmosphere, Springer 1998, ISBN 3540634959, p.186
2. ^ Fredrika Bremer, Two Years in Switzerland and Italy, Hurst and Blackett 1861, p.258
3. ^ The Century: A Popular Quarterly by Making of America Project, The Century Co. 1909, p.463
4. ^ W. R. Trumble; A. Stevenson, eds.,Shorter Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press 2002
5. ^ Biise (Article in Alemannic German)