Residents in Southampton took recent notice of a florescent orange ‘wind sock’ atop the water intake station at the bottom of Bay Street so we thought we would delve into its meaning, location and history.
It is a conical shaped tube, also known as a ‘wind indicator’ used to indicate the speed and direction of the wind and is mounted on a special installation consisting of a metal mast made of aluminum or galvanized steel. The mast is attached on a metal foundation so that it can withstand high wind speeds. A metal basket (or so called swivel frame) is placed on top of the mast, which can rotate 180 degrees horizontally and the windsock is attached to this so it can move freely depending on the direction of the wind.
The larger opening of the sock, the “throat”, catches the wind. The taper of the wind sock funnels the wind toward the small end of the sock, the “tail”, which blows “with the wind” and indicates wind direction. In other words, the wind direction is the opposite of the direction in which the wind sock is pointed. As seen in the image captured today, March 26th, the wind is from a northwesterly direction pointing the sock southeast.
According to Transport Canada, there is a standard for wind socks in that a fully extended one horizontally means a minimum wind of 17mph.
Along with design, visibility is important. Wind socks used in aviation are usually vivid safety orange, a color that provides good contrast to the blue color of the sky and, in the case of Southampton, a contrast against the blue of Lake Huron and the surrounding shoreline trees. The orange is also known as blaze orange and international orange.
High visibility wind socks also have an important industrial application and are often seen at chemical plants and other types of industrial plants to indicate wind direction.
While often found at airports, motorways and mountainous regions to help people decipher and decide on the course of action according to the wind, in the case of Southampton, it has been installed on the shore of Lake Huron at the town’s water intake pumping station.
According to Saugeen Shores Director of Public Works, Engineer Amanda Froese, the direction of the wind can help indicate the quality of water at the intake pumping station given the proximity of the Saugeen River mouth and turbidity that is often created in the early Spring runoff and during high-wind or following storm situations. She also says that there is one flying at the local landfill site.
Throughout time, wind socks have a long history that date back centuries in Japan and China, with the beginning of kites. In Japan, flying a wind sock would indicate the birth of a male child on ‘boy day’, but they were also used in war time for signalling and held high atop poles to help archers judge the strength and direction of the the wind.
Wind socks can also be traced back as far as 150 A.D in Roman times when they were used as military banners to differentiate military groups.
With the advent of aviation, wind socks were an important device for pilots to determine wind direction, particularly when coming in for a landing.
The wind sock … a centuries old technique
