Visualise a typical provencal image: south facing villages nestled into hillsides, a cluster of stone built homes with roofs of clay tiles that reflect the red and golden hues of the brightest sunshine on earth; little church towers with elaborate iron grids through which the bell can be seen ; fields of orchards and market garden produce separated by larch trees; roadsides bordered by tall Poplars and the clearest light that nature can provide under the luminous blue skies that are unique to this corner of the world. A perfect and happily accurate picture but did you know it looks like this because of the wind ?
Most summer tourists heading south will be lucky enough to spend their fortnight’s break without a whisper of adverse meteorological conditions or will find the odd passing puff of air a welcome antidote to the season’s intense heat. However, those that choose to stay longer know that something unpleasant waits like an unsuspected troll at the top of seemingly distant mountain ranges; and even if you’ve had no personal experience, readers of literature set in Provence, from Pagnol to Mayle, will have heard of the Mistral.
The Mistral, which regularly reaches speeds of 90 and sometimes as much as 120 kilometres an hour in the peak period between November and April, is a katabatic wind which originates in the Massif Central. When high pressure cools the air above the plateau and low pressure exists over the Mediterranean, the cold mountain breeze flows downhill and accelerates rapidly as it enters the funnel created by the Rhone valley. It has the potential to cause mayhem and once it hits the coast at speeds of over 100 knots, the Mistral is considered the most dangerous of all the various Mediterranean winds; creating havoc for sailors and fishermen who have to traverse the accompanying high seas especially where the wind climaxes in the Strait of Bonifacio between Corsica and Sardinia.
Apart from being difficult to accurately forecast, it is never certain how long the Mistral will stay: it might be a few hours or it could be a week or more. People in Provence claim that it always lasts an odd number of days but this might be a traditional and essential coping mechanism because much of provencal life has to take account of the phenomenon. To examine the evidence for the influence of the Mistral, we must first return to our picture postcard.
Those beautiful old homes are built into the hillside for protection against the wind and rarely have any north-facing windows; likewise for the traditional farmhouse, known as the Mas, which generally faces south-west with its back to the Mistral. Little villages away from the hills are often sheltered by trees to the north; and those colourful roofs? A closer inspection will reveal large stones or other heavy objects atop as the Mistral’s wrath can easily wrench away clay tiles and chimney pots. The intricate grid on the bell-tower may be attractive but its architectural significance is to allow the wind to pass safely through. Even that ugly monstrosity at Tricastin, which was France’s first atomic energy plant, was sited on that particular part of the Rhone in the path of the Mistral for a specific reason: the engineers and designers knew that, in the event of an accident, the wind would carry any pollution in a south-easterly direction to the sparsely populated mountainous area of the Vauclause.
The farmers, meanwhile, also have to legislate for this destructive element. The high trees that divide the orchards and fields have been planted to act as windbreaks as have the rows of bamboo and poplars by the side of the roads. Have another look at those trees: they’re generally only on one side of the route, nearest the crops and always bent in the same direction. The extra irrigation facilities amongst the fruit and vegetables are there because it’s the wind that dries up the soil whilst all new nursery stock must be anchored in three directions for several years.
And if all of that was not enough, there are the psychological effects to contend with. Reported feelings of depression before the onset of the Mistral followed by once it arrives may seem anecdotal but untold numbers of sleepless nights caused by the noise of the wind can cause migraine. It’s even been cited as a cause of madness and suicide, the rationale being that its continuous sudden appearances cause people to make rash decisions: the Mistral must be the only meteorological phenomenon to be used as a defence in a murder trial, defendants claiming that it forced them to kill!
The Mistral can occur between 100 and 150 days a year and having considered the evidence, it might be difficult to imagine why anyone would choose to live in Provence. Some people think that it may have even agitated Van Gogh’s tenuous mental state but he, as with many others, came here for the light and this too is caused by the wind. The Mistral cleans the whole countryside: it gets rid of all the grime, disperses the clouds, dries the atmosphere and leaves us with 2800 hours of wonderful sunshine each year which enhances all the colours of Provence. This uniqueness is called the beauty after the wind and this is why we stay.
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