Make your own wind vane
Wind vane
The instrument used for measuring wind direction is called a wind vane.
What you will need:
- A ruler
- A pen top
- A plastic fizzy drink bottle
- Card
- A knitting needle
- Matchsticks
- A cork
- Sand
- Blu-Tack (or similar)
What to do:
- Draw an arrow 25 cm long on the card and cut it out.
- Make another arrow by drawing around the first arrow and cutting it out.
- Place the pen top between the arrows, in the centre, and glue together. You may need to weight the pointy end of the arrow with blu tack or paper clips.
- Push four matchsticks into the long edge of the cork at right angles to each other.
- Cut out four small squares of card and label with the four main points of the compass; N, E, S, W. Attach these to the end of each matchstick with Blu-tack.
- Fill the bottle with sand.
- Push the knitting needle into the cork and push the cork in the top of the bottle. Now balance the wind vane on top of the needle.
- Choose an open area, perhaps near your rain gauge, to place your wind vane. Use a compass to point the N label on the bottle towards North.
The arrow always shows the direction the wind is blowing from.
Web page reproduced with the kind permission of the Met Office
