A southerly wind blowing over Egypt in front of depressions passing eastwards along the Mediterranean or North Africa, while pressure is high east of the Nile. The wind, most frequent from April to June, blows hotly and dryly from the interior of the continent and often carries much dust. According to the locals it blows for a period of fifty days, with khamsin being the Arabic word for fifty. This term is also loosely applied to any hot, dry winds from the south or southwest in the Red Sea. This corresponds to the scirocco of North Africa.
(southeasterly from North Africa to the eastern Mediterranean)
an oppressively hot southerly wind from the Sahara that blows across Egypt in the spring
(pronounced kahm-SENE)a hot, dry, southerly wind that originates on the Sahara and produces large sand and dust storms.
A Sahara wind that carries with it fine sand.
(Also spelled camsin, chamsin, kamsin, khamasseen, khemsin.) A dry, dusty, and generally hot desert wind in Egypt and over the Red Sea. It is generally southerly or southeasterly, occurring in front of depressions moving eastward across North Africa or the southeastern Mediterranean. The deep khamsins occur in spring with depressions traveling east-northeast across the northern Sahara. They are preceded by a heat wave lasting about three days and are followed by a duststorm. The passage of the depression is marked by a cold front bringing Mediterranean air and a sudden drop in temperature. See ghibli, chili, sirocco.
A hot, dry, southerly wind blowing across Egypt and Red Sea ahead of a Mediterranean depression. Most frequent between April and June. Khamsin is from the Arabic for "fifty", implying fifty days when it is expected to last.