Foehn winds are a warm, dry wind on the lee side (lee side is the
direction downwind, the lee side of mountains generally remains dry) of a
mountain range with he warmth & dryness of the air being due to adiabatic
compression (in adiabatic compression, as the volume of the air decreases,
pressure and temperature increases) as the air descends the mountain slopes.

In the U.S, the term Chinook is used for Foehn winds in the Rocky & Sierra
Mountains. Do these type of winds occur around the mid state? Generally not,
but they can sometimes occur in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Extremely
high winds of 90 to 110 mph were reported across the western foothills of the
southern Appalachian Mountains on December 22-23 2004, October 17 2006, February
24-25 February 2007, & March 1 2007. The first diagram depicts a weak Foehn wind
event (light pink) & the second diagram depicts a strong Foehn wind event
(darker pink).