A shaft with feathers, giving wind direction and speed in one mark.
Also known as: Wind flag, Feathered line weather
A wind barb states direction and speed together. The shaft points the way the wind comes from, not where it is going — a convention that reverses the reading of every arrow elsewhere on the chart.
States wind direction by the orientation of its shaft and wind speed by the number and kind of barbs on it.
Contexts: Navigation
Points its shaft in the direction the wind is coming *from*, which reverses the reading of an ordinary direction arrow.
Contexts: Navigation
Counts speed in fixed increments: a half barb, a full barb and a solid pennant stand for five, ten and fifty knots, and are added together.
Contexts: Navigation
A straight shaft with short lines projecting from one end at an angle, some full length and some half, and sometimes a solid triangular pennant in place of several barbs.
Isobar spacing implies the wind the barb states directly.