Wind Direction explained(ish)

[GuyBoden]

If you are confused by wind directions stating SE, WSW, ENE etc, you are not alone.

The main confusion is that wind directions like SE indicate where the wind is blowing from, so a SE wind is blowing from southeast towards the northwest.

So, looking at the compass points in the diagram above, another example WSW wind will be blowing from the west south west towards east north east.

Another common confusion is tailwind and headwind, a headwind is against you making riding more difficult, a tailwind is the opposite making riding easier.

It's good to know North, East, South, West in your local area, so armed with a knowledge of the wind direction, you could plan your ride to have a tailwind assisting you on your ride home. I hope this helps.

(Beginners section info)

 

[cougie uk]

Nobody here is confused about headwinds. I'm not sure everyone believes in tailwinds mind you.

 

[Dogtrousers]

If you study that closely you will see that there is no such compass direction as "North by North-West". Which may puzzle Alfred Hitchcock fans.

The film title comes from the fact that Cary Grant's character took a flight going North, on Northwest Airlines. Hence "North by Northwest".

 

[GuyBoden]

I've posted this because I'm going for a bike ride with my wife later, she's confused about wind direct etc, so I tried to explain it again. She hates riding against a headwind on the way home, so I try to plan a route to avoid it.

So, I've posted this info in the Beginners section.

 

[si_c]

Living on a peninsular I'm acutely familiar which way the wind is blowing from and usually ride in a direction meaning a tailwind for the last portion of the ride. Not always possible when riding a bit further and off the peninsular though unfortunately.

 

[Dogtrousers]

It can be counter-intuitive as you might naturally expect a Northerly wind to be one blowing in a Northerly direction, not coming from a Northerly direction. But fortunately these days all you need to do is look at arrows on websites. Like this:

 

[T4tomo]

No one ever gets a tailwind on the way home, that just how it works.

To be fair unless you are riding at less than the wind speed, you don't really feel the tailwind, that one of the reasons why you feel that 90% of the time the wind is a headwind.

But anyway thanks for introducing us to the compass.

 

[steverob]

To be fair unless you are riding at less than the wind speed, you don't really feel the tailwind, that one of the reasons why you feel that 90% of the time the wind is a headwind.

Yeah, unless the conditions are completely still, I assume that if I can't feel any wind, it must be a tailwind. That way I'm then not surprised by a) how fast an average speed I'm managing out of nowhere and b) where that head/cross wind suddenly came from when my route finally makes a 90+ degree change in direction!

 

[Tenkaykev]

I’ve had the situation when running at colder times of the year, where I’ve exactly matched the wind speed and am in effect in still air. This causes my glasses to steam up as my sweat vapour condenses on the colder lenses.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

My normal rules is to pick a route based on having a headwind on the way out to avoid having it on the way home

As an extra I got into an argument a while ago on some forum or other, when I said that the prevailing wind direction is from the NW
This was based on spend my whole life living near the sea either on Merseyside or in North Wales
And spending many years sailing racing dinghies on the Wirral coast. The wind was nearly always coming from the NW

But apparently the official prevailing wind for the UK is from the SW - just not round here!

 

[neil_merseyside]

Living on a peninsular I'm acutely familiar which way the wind is blowing from and usually ride in a direction meaning a tailwind for the last portion of the ride. Not always possible when riding a bit further and off the peninsular though unfortunately.

Given our prevailing wind (some value of W and N ) on the Wirral it's usually againsterly heading home, glad I only live half way up it.

 

[Gasman]

Wind explained for cyclists.

 

[RoubaixCube]

headwind/tailwind it makes no difference to me. Even if it it means my top speed is limited to a crawling 10-13mph.

 

[Brandane]

The wind helps me to navigate when cycling. If the wind is against me, I know I'm going the right way. Same applies for hills, it's always UP the hill to wherever I'm going!

 

[Aravis]

If you study that closely you will see that there is no such compass direction as "North by North-West". Which may puzzle Alfred Hitchcock fans.

The film title comes from the fact that Cary Grant's character took a flight going North, on Northwest Airlines. Hence "North by Northwest".

Nice.

Digression alert. Watching Richard Osman's House of Games once, one of the "Where is Kazakhstan" locations was Krakatoa. I thought, smugly, that I knew exactly where it is, just to the east of Java. One of the guests knew that reference, but didn't know where Java is. Cue much mocking and eye-rolling. Then I found that it's actually west of Java; apparently for the film title, "East of Java" sounded more exotic.

I'm always pretty meticulous about planning rides around wind direction, looking for any expected changes I might use to my advantage. But in any normal conditions I generally find I'm surprised how little difference it makes when it's against me, and how little it really helps when it's behind.