Why Chinook Permits Wearing Non-Seasonal Clothes

Post author:Nicole Mölders
Reading time:6 mins read

This post explains why Chinook permits wearing non-seasonal clothes in spring, fall, and the middle of the winter. Learn why the air is warm during a Chinook event and why you nevertheless need shoes with good insulation.

Contents

Chinook Means Snow-Eater
What Does a Chinook Mean for Visibility?
Chinook Fall Outfit with Summer Clothes
Why Chinook Permits Wearing Non-Seasonal Clothes

Chinook Means Snow-Eater

The Chinook is a Föhn wind. In Interior Alaska, we get Chinooks, when a low pressure system in the Gulf of Alaska travels north over the Alaska Range. Chinook means “snow-eater”. Its air is warm and dry as during Chinook episodes a lot of the water load falls out on the southern exposed mountains of the Alaska Range.

Typically, temperature decreases with height. As the air ascends on the southern side of the Alaska Range, the condensation of water vapor to form cloud drops and ice crystals released heat and hence warms the air. Consequently, temperature decreased less strongly with height than without cloud formation. When the water rained out or falls as snow on the southern side, the air is dry when it descends on the northern side. Now temperature increases more strongly during the descend than it decreased when ascending on the southern side. Thus, when reaching the bottom of the valley the air is warmer than it was at same height on the other side of the mountains.

What Does a Chinook Mean for Visibility

Thanks to the dry air, one can see the northern mountains of the Alaska Range in the outfit photos. These mountains are more than 80 miles away. Thus, this day had a great visibility because the water vapor content of the air was very low and there were hardly any particles in the air.

Chinook Fall Outfit with Summer Clothes

Chinnoks occur at all times of the year. This time, the Chinook set in over night. The warm, dry air that made it over the Alaska Range, hence, melted and sublimated the snow away.

style book author in maxi leather coat in front of the Chinook gap — Long Gipsy leather coat, colorful scarf, GAP corduroy blazer, I.N.C. leather carpi, GNW sweater, LV multi color saddle bag with studs, and Ivanka Trump pumps

Since temperatures were in the 50s (10^oC), I could wear my light long leather coat for the commute to work. Under my coat, I wore the leather carpi from summer with a fuchsia cardigan tucked in as a top, and a corduroy bottle-green blazer to give the outfit a fall vibe. I added my nude fuchsia-orange pumps for an office appropriate look. It is the second time that I styled this capri for a fall work outfit.

Why Chinook Permits Wearing Non-Seasonal Clothes

The outfit below shows an example of a winter look under chinook conditions. Here I paired my gray tweed skirt and gray turtleneck cashmere sweater with some pearl necklaces for some classic simple style.

Since the ground does not warm fast, I added my boot toppers as they are actually socks and provide some insulation from the cold ground besides being totally stylish. The boot toppers the statement and fun part of the outfit.

To run errands I topped this classic outfit with my burgundy leather sweater. The leather top with zippers turns the classic look into lovely street style look.