Home › Glossary › Letter K

Katabatic Wind

Weather
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A cold, dense wind that flows downhill by gravity, often from high plateaus or ice caps; in poetic weather imagery, it symbolizes descending forces, harsh change, or the relentless pull of natural law.

Detailed Definition
A katabatic wind forms when cold, heavy air drains down a slope under the pull of gravity. It can descend from glaciers, ice sheets, or mountain plateaus with startling speed and force. In poetry, this downward-moving wind may suggest grief, judgment, ancestral pressure, or the cold force of inevitability. Its scientific precision can sharpen a winter or mountain scene while preserving a sense of elemental menace and vastness.
Example
Example in poetry:
A katabatic wind spilled from the glacier at night, cold as metal across the tents; Use katabatic wind for dense air flowing downhill under gravity, often from an ice sheet or high plateau; The katabatic wind descended the valley, carrying no message except colder weather; In a poem, a katabatic wind can mirror grief that gathers in high places and rushes downward through the body
Additional Notes
A katabatic wind descends slopes under the pull of gravity as cold, dense air. Its downhill movement can give a poem a feeling of secrecy, inevitability, isolation, or cold rushing from mountains.
Also Known As
Drainage Wind Fall Wind Gravity Wind
Skip to main content