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Does the below suggest wind is from the SW (ie: you standing in the middle facing north with wind to tour rear left) or it's blowing from NE towards SW?

enter image description here

Jamiec
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user13555
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    "Does the below suggest" - we can probably take an educated guess, but without knowing what your image is it's hard to know for sure! – Jamiec Oct 20 '21 at 11:01
  • @ymb1 that question you refer to talks about a METAR or ATIS, not a generic chart displaying wind direction like this question. (I have seen charts like this up at small flying clubs and airports without ATIS or METAR) – tedioustortoise Oct 20 '21 at 11:24
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    @tedioustortoise: OP needs to say what display this comes from (Jamiec already asked). I've never heard of wind being described in a way other than the one in the linked post (and your answer) – as far as aviation is concerned. Degrees true or mag is also covered in another Q&A here in case that's the issue. –  Oct 20 '21 at 11:26
  • @ymb1 I just don't understand why you would need to reference another answer? Other than to implying that the person asking the question should have referenced other questions available before asking - a gentle rebuking tactic common amongst some users of aviation stack exchange - unnecessarily as people like me are happy to answer the new question. This question has nothing to do with METARS or ATIS, where your linked answer does only discuss METARS and ATIS. – tedioustortoise Oct 20 '21 at 11:33
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    I already posted a comment on the first version of this question: Such indicator is used here. At the moment it points West, and at the same time we can look at this Peloponnesus location on Earth visualization site and see air comes from West. You can check for your location the same way instead of continuing asking the same question which is not related to aviation. – mins Oct 20 '21 at 11:36
  • OP's older post / related: How is heading / windspeed written? –  Oct 20 '21 at 11:36
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    @tedioustortoise: From Help Center: The fundamental goal of closing duplicate questions is to help people find the right answer by getting all of those answers in one place. // Also, again, if no aviation relation is established in the question (image source clarified), then it's off-topic (RE: METARS and ATIS). Also btw, my very first comment, asking "Does this answer your question ...", that's an automated comment that I didn't write, and Stack Exchange has decided is the best wording for it. There is no rebuking. –  Oct 20 '21 at 11:40
  • @tedioustortoise: RE "person asking the question should have referenced other questions available before asking" – that's actually how it's supposed to work, also from Help Center: This demonstrates that you’ve taken the time to try to help yourself, it saves us from reiterating obvious answers, and above all, it helps you get a more specific and relevant answer! // So 1) please assume good faith 2) you can ask on this site's meta if you didn't find what you're looking for in the Help Center. –  Oct 20 '21 at 11:50
  • @tedioustortoise As ymb1 has said, we actively try to discourage having multiple duplicates of much the same question. Although the linked duplicate talks about TAF/METAR you can see it's asking much the same question! There is nothing intended to be discouraging about this. Although sometimes it might feel that way – Jamiec Oct 20 '21 at 11:51
  • @Jamiec I don't just feel discouraged, I do think it is discouraging, particularly to new users. It just seems to be overly-policed to its own harm. The other question marked as the was asked over 5 years ago. Secondly, there is a big difference between TAFs/METARs where established practices are in place for met (ICAO Annex 3) and generic met principles such as a random chart in a small flying club. There is a difference, in my opinion enough of a difference to merit multiple questions. I think such policing is far more detrimental than the risk of having similar questions in the database. – tedioustortoise Oct 21 '21 at 06:56

1 Answers1

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Wind Direction is typically reported in meteorological observation as the direction from where the wind is blowing.

The normal unit of wind speed is the knot . Wind direction is measured relative to true north (not magnetic north) and is reported from where the wind is blowing. An easterly wind blows from the east or 90 degrees, a southerly from the south or 180 degrees and a westerly from the west or 270 degrees.

UK Met Office

The true direction from which the wind is blowing at a given location (i.e., wind blowing from the north to the south is a north wind). It is normally measured in tens of degrees from 10 degrees clockwise through 360 degrees. North is 360 degrees. A wind direction of 0 degrees is only used when wind is calm.

USA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Glossary

Without reference to what chart you are referencing it is not possible to confirm this, but I would make an educated presumption that the wind in your example is blowing from the SW (to the NE) - a "south-westerly".

How it would be displayed on a Meteorological chart

The only exception this the presumption (wind FROM) is when a chart gives a wind-sock symbol - in this case I would assume the wind sock is pointed to the direction where the wind is is going TO, as a real wind-sock would!

enter image description here

Additional Info

ICAO Annex 3 - Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation - does not actually specify this (wind direction always being 'from'). (Probably because universally wind direction is given as degrees FROM in meteorology).

4.6 Observing and reporting meteorological elements
4.6.1 Surface wind
4.6.1.1 The mean direction and the mean speed of the surface wind shall be measured, as well as significant variations of the wind direction and speed, and reported in degrees true and metres per second (or knots), respectively.

But does confirm that it is given in degrees True.

tedioustortoise
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  • Please consider adding this answer to the duplicated question rather than this one. – DJClayworth Oct 20 '21 at 15:42
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    @DJClayworth my answer would not make sense on that question. An answer to that question would reference ICAO Annex 3 Meteorology as the person asking the question distinctly refers to ATIS and METARs. My answer here applies to someone who walks into a small flying club (no ATIS/METAR) and there is a chart on screen showing the wind direction. – tedioustortoise Oct 21 '21 at 06:43