Measuring wind direction with South Alabama Mesonet, a slideshare created for educational purposes for the University of South Alabama.

1. MEASURING
wind direction South Alabama
MESONET

2. Wind directions
matter
to temperature.
In North America,
it is generally colder in
the north and warmer
in the south.

3. If the wind blows from the north
it will bring in colder air & lower teperatures.
Similarly, winds from the south
tend to bring warmer air & higher temperature.

4. Winds are named
after the direction
that they blow from.

5. When the wind blows
out of the north,
it is called a northerly wind.
Similarly, a southerly wind
blows out of the south.

6. There are16 named
wind directions.

7. the four
main wind
directions
are...
North, south,
east and west.

8. Names of wind directions inbetween
N, E, S, & W are formed by combining
the names of neighboring directons.
For example, northeast lies
between north and east.
That gives a total of eight
directons
N
S
EW
NW
SW SE
NE

9. Finally, there are 8 more directions
inbetween the eight just presented.
Again, the names are
formed by combining
names of the directions on
either side.
For example, north-northeast
(NNE) lies between north (N)
and northeast (NE).
N
S
EW
NW
SW SE
NE
NNENNW
ENE
ESE
SSESSW
WSW
WNW

10. We can also use
degrees to designate
wind directions.

11. Since a circle spans 360°, we can
also use degrees to designate wind
directions. N
0°
180°
S
90° EW270°
We start at direction
north with 0°& move
clockwise around the
circle to 90°(East),
180°(South), 270°(West),
& back tonorth (0°or 360°).

12. Then we can fill in the rest
of the directions:
NNE = 22.5°
NE =45°
ENE = 76.5°
E = 90° & so forth.
N
0°
180°
S
90°EW 270°
22.5°
45°
76.5°

13. As you can imagine, we can get very
precise measurements
this way. We can designate as many
directions as we would like, not just the
16 named directions we saw before.

14. We can have a wind direction
of 277.35° for example. As long as it is not
negative or greater than 360°.
This allows us to measure wind
directions very accurately.

15. Electronic wind sensors
like those installed
at the Mesonet stations,
measure wind
directions in degrees.