The wind rose is a useful tool for meteorologists looking at trends of wind patterns and speeds in a specific geographic location. As a polar coordinate graph, there is a zero point in the center and all wind data branches off that in a series of boxes that are shaded with different colors. The direction the box points represents the wind direction while the length of the box (connected by a series of rings) represents the frequency within which the wind blows that way. The colors represent the wind speed in a variety of ranges. The wind rose displayed here comes from the NWS in Springfield, Missouri, and shows that from the years 1973 to 2007 the winds mostly travel southeast at speeds of 12- 20 knots or 5 – 12 knots. Considering there is some variance among the number of boxes coming off the wind rose, it is safe to say that Springfield has a tendency to get slightly windy on a given day.
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