the.com/windsock
the limp tube at the airport that's quietly saving your life every gust.
means A tapered fabric tube mounted on a pole that inflates in the wind to show pilots and others the wind's direction and rough strength.
from A plain English compound of "wind" and "sock," both ancient words: "wind" traces back to Old English "wind" (a cousin of German "Wind" and Latin "ventus"), and "sock" from Old English "socc," a light slipper, borrowed from Latin "soccus," a low comic actor's shoe. The name is pure description — a sock for the wind — and came into use with the rise of aviation, when airfields needed a cheap, glanceable way to read the breeze.
- reads wind
- Full extension means winds over 15 knots
- standard color
- Aviation orange, legally regulated for visibility
- five stripes
- Each band signals roughly three knots of speed
- older than radar
- Guided pilots before electronic instruments existed
- chemical sentinel
- Plants use them to track toxic leak drift