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thedanster7000
2017-02-27, 03:38 PM
My players' party's hiking around the bottom of a collection of unrealistically-big mountains. The area in question is cold and there is a lot of snow, and I'm wondering whether it would be windy around the bottom of the mountains or whether the mountains would block the wind as such.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

halfeye
2017-02-28, 09:54 PM
I'm not an expert but ...

Mountains, in the singular are not usually as steep as 45 degrees (except in fiction, Skyrim in particular). They do tend to come in bunches, and the lowest bits between any two that are close together, will tend to be higher than the lowest bits on other sides. There is such a thing as the lee side of a hill, where the wind is only strong from an unusual direction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windward_and_leeward

That's mainly about the sea, but it should apply to land too I believe.

Angrith
2017-03-03, 05:21 PM
As a student of meteorology (although not specifically mountain winds), it depends on your mountain. If you have a mostly unbroken line of peaks, I wouldn't expect a ton of wind unless you have a cold front moving through. If you have mountain passes, however, you can hit 30-40 mph (48 km/hr - 64 km/hr) fairly often even tens of miles from the pass.

Mr. E
2017-03-03, 05:40 PM
If the wind is blowing through the mountains, it will be freezing cold for certain, and you should consider wind-chill when calculating temperature. In addition, if the snow is relatively new, even a small amount of wind will blow it up, reduce visibility, start making large drifts appear, etc. These drifts can mask substantial hollows and crevasses if the wind is strong enough.

Knaight
2017-03-03, 05:55 PM
As a student of meteorology (although not specifically mountain winds), it depends on your mountain. If you have a mostly unbroken line of peaks, I wouldn't expect a ton of wind unless you have a cold front moving through. If you have mountain passes, however, you can hit 30-40 mph (48 km/hr - 64 km/hr) fairly often even tens of miles from the pass.

You don't need that many passes either - I live at the foot of a mountain range, and 30-40 mph isn't uncommon. A bit north and a bit closer to a pass, 50-60 mph isn't uncommon.