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. Historically, wind roses were predecessors of the compass rose (found on maps), as there was no differentiation between a cardinal direction and the wind which blew from such a direction. Using a polar coordinate system of gridding, the frequency of winds over a long time period are plotted by wind direction, with color bands showing wind ranges. The directions of the rose with the longest spoke show the wind direction with the greatest frequency.
Famous quotes containing the words wind and/or rose:
“Blows the wind to-day, and the sun and the rain are flying,
Blows the wind on the moors to-day and now,
Where about the graves of the martyrs the whaups are crying,
My heart remembers how!”
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
“What we call spring here is one rose and two buds that just grew in the cloister garden. That is enough to move the men of my country. But their heart resembles that miserly rose. A more powerful breath would wilt them, they have the spring that they deserve.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)