SIROCCO  , a name applied to two quite distinct types of

local wind . The first type is the characteristic wind of the winter rainy season in the Mediterranean region, and is associated with the eastern side of local depression or cyclones, in which the weather is moist, cloudy and rainy, the prevailing directions being south and south-east . The second type is the intensely dry dust-laden wind of the desert which receives this name in Sicily and southern Italy especially, where the general direction is south-east or south-west . Local winds of this latter type receive a great variety of names in different parts of the Mediterranean and surrounding regions (see LEVECHE, LESTE, KHAMSIN, SIMOOM) .