French Riviera the weather between various locations. Strong winds such as the Mistral, a cold dry wind from the northwest or from the east, are another characteristic, particularly in the winter. Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes département are sheltered by the Alps. The winds are usually gentle, from the sea to the land, though sometimes the mistral blows strongly from the northwest, or, turned by the mountains, from the east. In 1956 a mistral from the northwest reached at Nice Airport. Sometimes, in summer, the sirocco brings high temperatures and reddish desert sand from the Sahara. (See Winds of Provence.) Rain can be
Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg train." The "Carl Sandburg" was added as a second daily round trip in 2006. During fiscal year 2015, both the "Illinois Zephyr" and "Carl Sandburg" carried a combined 208,961 passengers, a 2.8% decrease over fiscal year 2014. The two trains had a total revenue of $5,287,029 in fiscal year 2015, a 4.2% decrease over fiscal year 2014. The "Illinois Zephyr" is a descendant of the "Kansas City Zephyr" and "American Royal Zephyr" passenger train routes operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad from 1953 until 1968 and 1971, respectively. The state of Illinois intervened in 1971 at the request