Sirocco
Sirocco is a wind old enough to have earned a complaint from a Roman poet. Horace met it in 37 BC, on a journey to Brundisium that passed through Trevico in Apulia. He called it Atabulus, a Messapic word harsh enough to make it into his account.
Centuries later, the same wind still rides north out of the Sahara, and it still carries a foreign sounding name almost everywhere it lands. What pulls a hot gust across an entire sea until it reaches Venice or Trieste? Why does one weather pattern collect so many separate names? And why would anyone welcome a wind that everyone else blames for a foul mood?
The word sirocco traces back to šurūq, an Arabic verbal noun built from šaraqa, tied to aš-šarq, the word for the East. That single root spread into a long list of local names as the wind blew across different coastlines and languages.
In Sardinia the wind is called bentu de subra, in Sicily sciroccu, and along the Spanish coast siroco or marin. Catalan speakers call it xaloc, Maltese speakers xlokk, and in Occitan it becomes siròc or eisseròc. Greek speakers use sirokkó, written σιρόκος, while in the Balkans it turns into jugu or jugo, sometimes rendered širok in Croatia.
Libyan Arabic labels it qibliyy, meaning coming from the Qibla, or khamsin, meaning fifty, shorthand for a fifty-day wind. Hebrew borrows the same idea directly from Arabic, rendering it שרקיע alongside חמסין. In Morocco, the same root turns up as Chergui, pronounced širguī from the Arabic شرقي.
None of those names explain how the wind actually forms, gathering strength far south over desert land before it ever reaches a coastline.
Warm, dry tropical air starts the sirocco, originating over the Arabian or Sahara deserts before low-pressure cells drag it northward. Those cells move eastward across the Mediterranean Sea, hauling the desert air along with them.
That hot continental air collides with the cooler, wetter air already sitting over the sea inside a maritime cyclone. The low's counter-clockwise circulation then pushes the mixed air across the southern coasts of Europe.
By the time that mixed air reaches land, it has picked up enough heat and moisture to reshape the weather far from where it started.
Along Africa's northern coast, the sirocco turns the air dusty and dry, while the same system spins up storms out over the Mediterranean Sea. Its passage can last as little as half a day or stretch across several days. Once it reaches Southern Europe, conditions there turn warm and wet. That reach has a limit; the wind does not affect other parts of the European continent.
Crossing the Mediterranean Sea, the sirocco picks up moisture that eventually falls as rain over southern Italy. Locals call it blood rain, since red Saharan sand mixed into the raindrops stains everything it touches.
Sirocco is commonly blamed for unease and a short temper among the people it passes over. Many attribute outright health problems to it, whether from the heat and dust off Africa's coast. Others blame the damp chill it carries further north into Europe. That same dust grinds into mechanical devices and works its way inside buildings.
None of that explains why the wind hits hardest twice a year. It also doesn't explain why a rising tide can turn it into a flood risk for one lagoon.
Sirocco winds can reach speeds of up to 100 km/h, blowing hardest during autumn and spring, with peaks arriving in March and in November.
When one of those gusts arrives alongside a rising tide, it produces the acqua alta phenomenon that floods the Venetian Lagoon.
Anchovies from the Gulf of Trieste, near Barcola, count among the wind's stranger effects, since they're caught only during a sirocco. When a cold wind like the bora blows instead, those same fish vanish into the Adriatic.
That single gust decides, season after season, whether Barcola's nets come back full or empty.
Common questions
What is a sirocco wind and where does it come from?
A sirocco is a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and can reach hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe, especially in summer. It forms when warm, dry tropical air originating in the Arabian or Sahara deserts is pulled northward by low-pressure cells crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
Where does the name sirocco come from?
The name sirocco comes from the Arabic šurūq, a verbal noun of šaraqa related to aš-šarq, the word for the East. Local names for the same wind include scirocco, sciroccu, xaloc, xlokk, jugu or jugo, and Libyan Arabic qibliyy or khamsin.
How fast can sirocco winds blow and when do they peak?
Sirocco winds can reach speeds of up to 100 km/h. They are most common during autumn and spring, peaking in March and in November.
What is blood rain and how does the sirocco cause it?
Blood rain is the local name for rainfall in southern Italy that forms when the sirocco picks up moisture over the Mediterranean Sea and mixes it with red Saharan sand. The red sand mixed into the falling rain gives it its color and its name.
How does the sirocco affect the anchovies caught near Barcola in the Gulf of Trieste?
Anchovies from the Gulf of Trieste near Barcola are a prized local delicacy that are caught only during a sirocco. When a cold wind such as the bora blows instead, those anchovies disappear into the Adriatic.
What is acqua alta and how is it linked to the sirocco?
Acqua alta is a flooding phenomenon in the Venetian Lagoon that occurs when a sirocco wind combines with a rising tide. That combination pushes water levels high enough to flood the lagoon.
Who first wrote about the sirocco wind?
The Roman poet Horace described the sirocco in his account of a journey to Brundisium in 37 BC, calling it Atabulus while passing through Trevico in Apulia. Atabulus was a Messapic word for the wind.
All sources
2 references cited across the entry