BORA (Boreas—North Wind), an Italian name for a violent cold northerly and north-easterly wind, common in the Adriatic, especially on the Istrian and Dalmatian coasts. The wind gener ally produces boisterous squalls sometimes with whirling snow. There is always a northern tendency in the winds on the North Mediterranean shores in winter owing to the cold air of the moun tains sliding down to the sea where the pressure is less. When, therefore, cyclones are found over the Mediterranean, the cur rents in their north-western area draw the air from the cold northern regions, and during the passage of a cyclone the bora often prevails, but the actual violence is largely on account of the weight of the cold air on the plateau. It forms a torrent which may be independent of Buys Ballot's law (q.v.). It is suggested that such local winds should be called "katabatic." A similar wind is experienced at Novorossiysk on the Black sea.