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Consequently, a wind blowing from the north has a wind direction referred to as 0° (360°); a wind blowing from the east has a wind direction referred to as 90°, etc. Weather forecasts typically give the direction of the wind along with its speed , for example a "northerly wind at 15 km/h" is a wind blowing from the north at a speed of 15 km ...
A wind rose is a graphic tool used by meteorologists to give a succinct view of how wind speed and direction are typically distributed at a particular location. Presented in a polar coordinate grid, the wind rose shows the frequency of winds blowing from particular directions.
Wind direction is usually expressed in terms of the direction from which it originates. For example, a northerly wind blows from the north to the south. [8] Weather vanes pivot to indicate the direction of the wind. [9] At airports, windsocks indicate wind direction, and can also be used to estimate wind speed by the angle of hang. [10]
The Santa Anas are katabatic winds (Greek for "flowing downhill") arising in higher altitudes and blowing down towards sea level. [7] The National Weather Service defines Santa Ana winds as "a weather condition [in southern California] in which strong, hot, dust-bearing winds descend to the Pacific Coast around Los Angeles from inland desert regions".
A katabatic wind (named from Ancient Greek κατάβασις ' descent ') is a downslope wind caused by the flow of an elevated, high-density air mass into a lower-density air mass below under the force of gravity.
In the Pacific Ocean, the full wind circulation, which included both the trade wind easterlies and higher-latitude westerlies, was unknown to Europeans until Andres de Urdaneta's voyage in 1565. [4] The captain of a sailing ship seeks a course along which the winds can be expected to blow in the direction of travel. [5]
The term "nor'easter" naturally developed from the historical spellings and pronunciations of the compass points and the direction of wind or sailing. [citation needed] As noted in a January 2006 editorial by William Sisson, editor of Soundings magazine, [9] use of "nor'easter" to describe the storm system is common along the U.S. East Coast.
In European tradition, it has usually been considered the mildest and most favorable of the directional winds. In ancient Greek mythology and religion, the god Zephyrus was the personification of the west wind and the bringer of light spring and early summer breezes; his Roman equivalent was Favonius (hence the adjective favonian, pertaining to the west wind).