Levant (wind)

Levant (wind)

The levant (Catalan: Llevant, Italian: Levante, Maltese: Lvant, Greek: Λεβάντες, Spanish: Levante) is an easterly wind that blows in the western Mediterranean Sea and southern France, an example of mountain-gap wind. In Roussillon it is called "llevant" and in Corsica "levante". In the western Mediterranean, particularly when the wind blows through the Strait of Gibraltar, it is called the Viento de Levante or the Levanter.

When blowing moderately or strongly, the levant causes heavy swells on the Mediterannean. Usually gentle and damp, the levant frequently brings clouds and rain. When it brings good weather, it is known as the "levant blanc".

The origin of the name is the same as the origin of the Levant, the region of the eastern Mediterranean: it is the Middle French word "levant", the participle of lever "to raise" — as in soleil levant "rising sun" — from the Latin levare. It thus referred to the Eastern direction of the rising sun.