Weather vane

Wind vanes are found on small horizontal-axis wind turbines

The oldest textual reference in China to a weather vane comes from the Huainanzi dating from around 139 BC, which mentions a thread or streamer that another commentator interprets as "wind-observing fan" (hou feng shin, 侯風扇).[1] The Tower of the Winds on the ancient Greek agora in Athens once bore on its roof a weather vane in the form of a bronze Triton holding a rod in his outstretched hand, rotating as the wind changed direction. Below this was a frieze adorned with the eight Greek wind deities. The eight-metre-high structure also featured sundials, and a water clock inside. It dates from around 50 BC.[2]

Military documents from the Three Kingdoms period of China (220–280) refer to the weather vane as "five ounces" (wu liang, 五兩), named after the weight of its materials.[1] By the third century, Chinese weather vanes were shaped like birds and took the name of "wind-indicating bird" (xiang feng wu, 相風烏). The Sanfu huangtu (三輔黃圖), a third-century book written by Miao Changyan about the palaces at Chang'an, describes a bird-shaped weather vane situated on a tower roof.[1]

The oldest surviving weather vane with the shape of a rooster is the Gallo di Ramperto, made in 820 and now preserved in the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia, Lombardy.[3][4]

Oast houses have vanes to ensure a controlled draught of air flows through the building.

Pope Leo IV had a cock placed on the Old St. Peter's Basilica or old Constantinian basilica.[5]

Pope Gregory I said that the cock "was the most suitable emblem of Christianity", being the emblem of St Peter, a reference to Luke 22:34 in which Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times before the rooster crows.[6][7]

As a result of this,[6] the rooster gradually began to be used as a weather vane on church steeples, and in the ninth century Pope Nicholas I[8] ordered the figure to be placed on every church steeple.[9]

The Bayeux Tapestry of the 1070s depicts a man installing a cock on Westminster Abbey.

One alternative theory about the origin of weathercocks on church steeples is that it was an emblem of the vigilance of the clergy calling the people to prayer.[10]

A modern scientific weathervane, gives the direction of the wind as an electrical signal.

Another theory says that the cock was not a Christian symbol[11] but an emblem of the sun[12] derived from the Goths.[13]

A few churches used weather vanes in the shape of the emblems of their patron saints. The City of London has two surviving examples. The weather vane of St Peter upon Cornhill is not in the shape of a rooster, but a key;[14] while St Lawrence Jewry's weather vane is in the form of a gridiron.[15]

Dragon weather vane from the Index to American Design, National Gallery of Art.

Early weather vanes had very ornamental pointers, but modern weather vanes are usually simple arrows that dispense with the directionals because the instrument is connected to a remote reading station. An early example of this was installed in the Royal Navy's Admiralty building in London – the vane on the roof was mechanically linked to a large dial in the boardroom so senior officers were always aware of the wind direction when they met.

Modern aerovanes combine the directional vane with an anemometer (a device for measuring wind speed). Co-locating both instruments allows them to use the same axis (a vertical rod) and provides a coordinated readout.

According to the Guinness World Records, the world's largest weather vane is a Tío Pepe sherry advertisement located in Jerez, Spain. The city of Montague, Michigan also claims to have the largest standard-design weather vane, being a ship and arrow which measures 48 feet (15 m) tall, with an arrow 26 feet (7.9 m) long.[16]

A challenger for the title of the world's largest weather vane is located in Whitehorse, Yukon. The weather vane is a retired Douglas DC-3 CF-CPY atop a swiveling support. Located at the Yukon Transportation Museum[17] beside Whitehorse International Airport, the weather vane is used by pilots to determine wind direction, used as a landmark by tourists and enjoyed by locals. The weather vane only requires a 5 knot wind to rotate.[18]

A challenger for the world's tallest weather vane is located in Westlock, Alberta. The classic weather vane that reaches to 50 feet (15 m) is topped by a 1942 Case Model D Tractor. This landmark is located at the Canadian Tractor Museum.

The term "weathervane" is also a slang word for a politician who has frequent changes of opinion. The National Assembly of Quebec has banned the use of this slang term as an insult after its use by members of the legislature.[19]

• A copper-plated antique weathervane is the subject of the mystery in the children's book/Young Adult book entitled "The Mystery of the Phantom Grasshopper" (Trixie Belden series #18) by Kathryn Kenny, 1977. ISBN 0-307-21589-X. Paperback.

• Anemoscope
• Apparent wind indicator, in sailing
• List of weather instruments
• Weather station
• Windsock, in aviation

• Bishop, Robert; Coblentz, Patricia (1981), A Gallery of American Weather Vanes and Whirligigs, New York: Dutton, ISBN 9780525931515
• Burnell, Marcia (1991), Heritage Above: a tribute to Maine's tradition of weather vanes, Camden, ME: Down East Books, ISBN 9780892722785
• Crépeau, Pierre; Portelance, Pauline (1990), Pointing at the Wind: the weather-vane collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization, ISBN 9780660129044
• Fitzgerald, Ken (1967). Weathervanes & Whirligigs. New York: C. N. Potter.
• Kaye, Myrna (1975), Yankee Weathervanes, New York: Dutton, ISBN 9780525238591
• Klamkin, Charles (1973), Weather Vanes: The history, design and manufacture of an American folk art, New York: Hawthorn Books, OCLC 756017
• Lane Arts Council (Or.) (1994), Whirligigs & Weathervanes, Eugene, OR: Visual Arts Resources, OCLC 33052846
• Lynch, Kenneth; Crowell, Andrew Durkee (1971), Weathervanes, Architectural Handbook series, Canterbury, CN: Canterbury Publishing Company, OCLC 1945107
• Messent, Claude John Wilson (1937), The Weather Vanes of Norfolk & Norwich, Norwich: Fletcher & Son Limited, OCLC 5318669
• Miller, Steve (1984), The Art of the Weathervane, Exton, PA: Schiffer Pub., ISBN 9780887400056
• Mockridge, Patricia; Mockridge, Philip (1990), Weather Vanes of Great Britain, London: Hale, ISBN 9780709037224
• Needham, Albert (1953), English Weather Vanes, their stories and legends from medieval to modern times, Haywards Heath, Sussex: C. Clarke, OCLC 1472757
• Nesbitt, Ilse Buchert; Nesbitt, Alexander (1970), Weathercocks and Weathercreatures; some examples of early American folk art from the collection of the Shelburne Museum, Vermont, Newport, RI: Third & Elm Press, OCLC 155708
• Pagdin, W. E. (1949). The Story of the Weather Cock. Stockton-on-Tees: E. Appleby.
• Reaveley, Mabel E.; Kunhardt, Priscilla (1984), Weathervane Secrets, Dublin, NH: W. L. Bauhan, ISBN 9780872330757
• Westervelt, A. B.; Westervelt, W. T. (1982), American Antique Weather Vanes: The Complete Illustrated Westervelt Catalog of 1883, New York: Dover, ISBN 9780486243962

Media related to Weather vanes at Wikimedia Commons