The Journal – Still in use today at airports and heliports, windsocks provide a visual indication of wind strength and direction instantly, unlike a modern measuring instrument. Also known as a rudimentary anemoscope, the windsock is a device for measuring the presence and direction of an air current.
The windsock is nothing more than a device made of fabric that is able to resist bad weather and the air flows that hit it, mounted on a pole so it can adapt to the flow of currents and to theirs variability. The windsock allows for a indirect measurement of the speed of currents as it “inflates.” The faster the air flow the more it “straightens!”
For determining the direction of the current, the concept is much simpler and more intuitive – if the wind blows in a given direction, the sleeve is positioned to accommodate the direction in which the wind blows.
