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What is a Wind Cone?
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
A wind cone is a device that provides a visual indication of wind direction and relative wind speed. These devices are installed at airports to provide pilots with information about conditions on the ground so that they can exercise appropriate precautions when landing. In addition, wind cones can be placed along high wind areas of a freeway to warn drivers when winds are high, and they can be used at facilities like chemical plants and refineries where wind direction and speed may be important to know about.
The wind cone consists of a tube of lightweight fabric mounted on a pole. The tube is able to swivel freely all the way around the pole so that it can move as the wind changes direction. A light breeze will lift the tube and partially fill it with air, causing it to project from the pole while the end of the tube hangs down. As the wind picks up, the part of the tube that droops down will gradually fill up, extending more and more of the tube. In high winds, the entire wind cone will be fully extended at a 90 degree angle from the pole.
Also known as a windsock, a wind cone is usually bright so that it will be highly visible. A lighted wind cone can be used at night in airports where pilots make night landings. Several wind cones will be scattered around a facility so that people can readily gather information about wind direction and wind speed when they are coming in for a landing.
Reading a wind cone is relatively easy. The wind is coming from the opposite direction that the wind cone is pointing in. For example, if a wind cone is pointing due East, it means that the wind is coming from the West. If the wind cone is partially extended, it means that air speed is relatively low. The more extended the cone, the higher the wind. Many cones are marked with rings so that people can clearly see how much of the cone is extended at any given time.
Wind cones manufactured to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards are fully extended in winds that exceed 17 miles per hour (28 kilometers per hour or 15 knots). Some people use an anemometer, a device that measures wind speed, to take measurements when wind cones are at various stages of extension in order to learn which speed each stage corresponds to.
Mary McMahon
Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a WikiMotors researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.
Learn more...
Mary McMahon
Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a WikiMotors researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.
Learn more...AS FEATURED ON:
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![A wind cone indicates the direction of the wind.]()
By: Lars KochA wind cone indicates the direction of the wind. -
![Anemometers, which measure wind speed, are sometimes used in conjunction with wind cones.]()
By: Zsolt BiczóAnemometers, which measure wind speed, are sometimes used in conjunction with wind cones.
Discussion Comments
A friend of mine had an incredibly long wind sock. Honsetly, this thing was probably 15 feet long.
It was mounted on top of his garage and it lay limply down the side. It would only fully inflate when there was a very strong wind, usually as part of a storm.
But when it did inflate it looked incredible. Because here is the kicker, it was designed to look like a dragon. So when the wind was raging he had a 15 foot dragon blowing across his backyard almost as if the beat had conjured up the storm himself.
There is a wind cone on the top of my son's school. For years when we were driving up he would point it out. From a very early age he has been good with the cardinal directions, he is just one of those people who seems to have an innate sense.
So when we would pull up he would look at the sock and yell out west or south, whichever direction the wind was blowing in. I would check it against the compass in the car and he was almost always right.
what about wind cones, according to ICAO?
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