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A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is a type of anemoscope used for showing the wind direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word vane comes from the Old English word fana, meaning "flag". Although partly functional, wind vanes are generally decorative, often featuring the traditional chicken design with letters indicating the points of the compass. Other common motifs include ships, arrows, and horses. Not all wind vanes have pointers. In a sufficiently strong wind, the head of the arrow or cockerel (or equivalent) will indicate the direction from which the wind is blowing.
Wind vanes are also found on small wind turbines to keep the wind turbine pointing into the wind. If employed on a boat, they are referred to as apparent wind indicators.
The Tower of the Winds in the agora in Hellenistic 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 a frieze depicted the eight Greek Wind gods. The eight-metre-high structure also featured , and a water clock inside. It dated from around 50 BC.
Military documents from the Three Kingdoms period of China (220–280 AD) refer to the weather vane as "five ounces" (, 五兩), named after the weight of its materials. By the third century, Chinese weather vanes were shaped like birds and took the name of "wind-indicating bird" (, 相風烏). The (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.
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.Rossana Prestini, Vicende faustiniane, in AA.VV., La chiesa e il monastero benedettino di San Faustino Maggiore in Brescia, Gruppo Banca Lombarda, La Scuola, Brescia 1999, p. 243Fedele Savio, Gli antichi vescovi d'Italia. La Lombardia, Bergamo 1929, p. hi 188
Vikings were known for creating ornamental, gilded weathervanes. They were originally crafted to adorn longships, however, became reappropriated for church use after the ships were retired. A notable example is the Söderala vane from 1050.
One alternative theory about the origin of weathercocks on church steeples sees them as emblems of the vigilance of the clergy calling the people to prayer. Thomas Ignatius M. Forster, Circle of the Seasons, p. 18 Another theory says that the weathercock was not a Christian symbol William White, Notes and Queries but an emblem of the sun Hargrave Jennings, Phallicism, p. 72 derived from the Goths. William Shepard Walsh, A Handy Book of Curious Information A few churches used weather vanes in the shape of the Saint symbolism 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 of a key; while St Lawrence Jewry's weather vane has the form of a gridiron (symbolising Saint Lawrence).
Modern aerovanes combine the directional vane with an anemometer (a device for measuring the speed of the wind). 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 tall, with an arrow long. A challenger for the title of the world's largest weather vane is located in Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada. The weather vane is a retired Douglas DC-3 CF-CPY atop a swiveling support. Located at the Yukon Transportation Museum goytm.ca 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. A notably tall weathervane is located in Westlock, Alberta. The classic weather vane that reaches to is topped by a 1942 Case Model D Tractor. This landmark is located at the Canadian Tractor Museum.
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