How to Read the Compass for Wind Direction
It might seem counterintuitive, but wind direction is where the wind is coming from, not where it is going to. A north wind is blowing from north to south. Sometimes, especially when the winds are light, the direction changes so often that wind direction is "variable." Other times, especially when the wind is strong, the wind direction remains fixed. Strong winds usually indicate that the weather is going to change. If the wind direction is from the north it will probably get colder. If the wind direction is from the south, it will probably get warmer.
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Instructions
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Hold up a piece of string or a flag to indicate wind direction. Turn your back to the wind and face the same direction that your indicator is pointing. Stay facing this direction for the rest of the process.
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Hold the compass in front of you, and rotate it until the needle points to north.
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The part of the compass that is nearest your body shows the wind direction.
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Tips & Warnings
Compasses point to magnetic north, not to geographic north. The difference is slight, but if you are interested in accuracy you will probably want to adjust for this. The difference between magnetic north and geographic north is called the magnet declination. It is different for every location. Your local university geography or geology department or the U.S. Geological Survey will be delighted to tell you the magnetic declination for your area. If, for example, your local magnet declination is 10 degrees east of north, this is where you should point your compass during the wind direction determination procedure.
Make sure that the compass is level when you are rotating it. If it is not level the needle can stick to the compass case and give an incorrect reading. Gently tilting the compass up and down is usually all that is needed to check the level. Expensive compasses have a built in bubble level for exactly this purpose.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit old style wooden compass image by Nikolay Okhitin from Fotolia.com
