A north wind is a wind

Wind

Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...

 that originates in the north

North

North is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.North is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the top side of a map is north....

 and blows south

South

South is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.South is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the bottom side of a map is south....

. The north wind has had historical and literal significance, since it often signals cold weather and seasonal change in the Northern hemisphere.

Mythology

• In Greek mythology
  Greek mythology
  Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
  
  , Boreas was the god of the north wind and bringer of cold winter air.

In literature

In the bible, Song of Solomon 4:16, the bride is calling for the North (and South) Wind to blow on her garden.

One of Aesop

Aesop

Aesop was a Greek writer credited with a number of popular fables. Older spellings of his name have included Esop and Isope. Although his existence remains uncertain and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a...

's most famous fables is called The North Wind and the Sun

The North Wind and the Sun

The North Wind and the Sun is one of Aesop's Fables . It is type 298 in the Aarne-Thompson folktale classification.-The story and its application:...

.

The North wind plays a part in the Norwegian fable, "East of the sun and west of the moon

East of the Sun and West of the Moon

East of the Sun and West of the Moon is a Norwegian folk tale.East of the Sun and West of the Moon was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe...

", as the only wind capable helping a woman fly to the titular location to find her husband.

The wind plays an important role in another Norwegian folktale, "The Lad who went to the North Wind", giving the lad a tablecloth that produces food, a donkey that produces gold, and a stick that beats a person on command.

Modern Literature

In George MacDonald

George MacDonald

George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S...

's children's novel At the Back of the North Wind

At the Back of the North Wind

At the Back of the North Wind is a children's book by George MacDonald. It was serialized in the children's magazine Good Words for the Young beginning in 1868 and was published in book form in 1871. It is a fantasy centered around a boy named Diamond and his adventures with the North Wind....

(serialized in the children's magazine Good Words for the Young beginning in 1868 and was published in book form in 1871), the title character, in the form of a beautiful woman, appears to a boy named Diamond and takes him on a series of nightly journeys.

Oscar Wilde's fairy tale The Selfish Giant (1888) personifies the North Wind as a man who "was wrapped in furs, and he roared all day about the garden, and blew the chimney-pots down".

In the second generation of the Pokémon

Pokémon

is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...

games (first released in Japan in 1999 and to Australia and North America in 2000 and Europe in 2001), Suicune

Suicune

is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. Created by Ken Sugimori, Suicune first appeared in the video games Pokémon Gold and Silver and subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise, spinoff titles, animated adaptations, and printed adaptations of the...

 is said to be the incarnation of the north winds.

The wind is also a character in Bill Willingham's comic series, Fables (2002-). He is the father of Bigby Wolf

Bigby Wolf

Bigby Wolf is a major character in the comic book series Fables. He is the Big Bad Wolf of legend and served as the sheriff of the exile community known as Fabletown for several hundred years...

 and adept at shapeshifting.

Winter's Child (2009), Cameron Dokey's

Cameron Dokey

Cameron Dokey is an American author. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her three cats and her husband. She has a collection of over 50 old sci-fi and horror films.Cameron was born in the Central Valley of California...

 novel adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...

 fairytale, "The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen is a fairy tale by author Hans Christian Andersen . The tale was first published in 1845, and centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by a little boy and girl, Kai and Gerda....

", cites the North Wind as the main factor in the Snow Queen's transformation from a mortal to the titular Winter Child.

Music

Jim Croce

Jim Croce

James Joseph "Jim" Croce January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973 was an American singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, Croce released five studio albums and 11 singles...

's song, titled "I Got A Name" (1973), references the North Wind in the verse: "Like the North Wind whistling down the sky, I got a song."