weather vane

A device that indicates or records the direction from which the wind is blowing. It is made up of a metal piece, usually in the shape of an arrow, that turns freely around a vertical axis. Weather vanes used in weather observatories are installed on a horizontal arm attached to the anemometer tower. The tip of the arrow has a counterweight and points at all times to the place the wind is blowing from. At the opposite end there is a vertical flat plate, on whose two faces the wind strikes alternately, causing the vane to turn. Thanks to an electronic device, that movement is recorded, and data on the changing direction of the wind is thus available. In traditional weather vanes, both that rear vane and the rest of the device have ornamental motifs. The vertical support around which the weather vane turns has four metal rods attached, oriented toward the four cardinal points, with the initials of these, allowing the observation to be carried out, which in this case is purely visual. There is a type of weather vane (weather vane wild ) that, apart from indicating wind direction, allows its intensity to be estimated, thanks to a tilting metal plate that swings like a pendulum, rising more or less depending on the wind.