"The wind will come back with vengeance"

Let's find alternative metaphors from those which devalue nature and animals, as for instance, when we're talking about weather. After all, neither nature nor animals can defend themselves in the court of language.

Mary Beth McDade on Los Angeles local KCAL "Weather Watch" news in forecasting the Santa Ana Winds, a wind condition peculiar to Southern California, said the following:


"The wind will come back with vengeance."

News to Mary Beth, nothing motivates the wind. Wind results from meteorological conditions.

Meteorological, Adjective:
1. of or pertaining to atmospheric phenomena, especially weather and weather conditions; the science of atmospheric events and weather. Those events are bound by the variables that exist in Earth's atmosphere, (not "vengeance"). These events include: temperature, pressure, water vapor, and the gradients and interactions of each variable, and how they change in time. The majority of Earth's observed weather is located in the troposphere. Concise Oxford Dictionary.

Mary Beth could have used meteorological language in describing the Santa Anas including gradients and variables of the predicted winds such as: atmospheric rises in heat as the winds descend the canyons heading toward the "Southland"; or rate of speed determining certain outcomes such as property destruction. All of this information is available from the U.S. Weather Service.

"Come back with vengeance" implies only that we think the winds will cause fire and damage. Fair enough, but just say it leaving out the word "vengeance."

(Brief editorial comment: Mary Beth basically said: "Those damn winds." She also could have said: Those "damn" developers who built homes in canyons known for over a century for being subjected to Santa Ana conditions. Or, she could have said: those "foolish" people who bought those homes ignorant of or complacent about the meteorological conditions of those canyons where the homes were placed. Don't mean to be harsh, but let's tell the meteorological and political truth. It's an inaccuracy to use the word "vengeance" with regard to the winds. Could a "willy-willy" (see below) ever be capable of vengeance? Just a thought.

What are the Santa Ana winds?

The "Santa Ana Winds" are local winds peculiar to Southern California which develop as "High pressure builds over the Great Basin (e.g., Nevada) and the cold air there begins to sink. However, this air is forced downslope which compresses and warms it at a rate of about 10C per kilometer (29F per mile) of descent. As its temperature rises, the relative humidity drops; the air starts out dry and winds up at sea level much drier still. The air picks up speed as it is channeled through passes and canyons." (Robert Fovell, UCLA).

Other local winds throughout the world include:

name of wind & location of wind condition

Cape doctor, western South Africa
haboob, North Africa
libeccio, western Italy
mistral, southern France
monsoon, South Asia
nor'wester, New Zealand
pampero, South America
shamal, Persian Gulf
santa anas, Southern California
sirocco, North Africa and southern Europe
solano, Spain
wet chinook, north-western USA
willy-willy, north-west Australia