Wind Rose

Map Link

This cartographic piece is an example of a wind rose. The source tells us that it is for LaGuardia Airport in New York. The way these maps work, is to show patterns of where wind blows from and with what frequency in a specific location. In this example, we can see that the wind blows the hardest from the south, and with a pretty substantial wind speed of around 11 m/s. The legend tells us that the colors on the wind rose show us wind speed. The percentages around the rose show us frequency for which the wind blows. In my research, I learned that airports are some of the most frequent users of wind roses because the airplanes take off best and land best going into the wind. Overall, these types of maps are useful in looking at how wind blows over time. We can then use this information in a variety of applications.