"Fieldnotes," February 16th & 17th, 2014: "Chinook Winds," by Stephanie Gripne & Caroline Kurtz. http://www.montananaturalist.org/
"Chinooks are the strong, warm winds that blow from the west, down the lee side of mountains and across the prairies. Chinooks can blow up to 100 miles per hour at temperatures of 50 degrees F. or more. In 1896 at Kipp, Montana, 36 inches of snow melted in less than twelve hours as the temperature rose 24 degrees in seven minutes. The total temperature rise was 80 degrees in a few hours. Now that I've lived in Montana awhile I've come to appreciate the sense of relief and even liberation chinooks can bring us from the entrapment of winter."