Wind rose

A passage in Vitruvius's chapter on town planning in his On Architecture (De architectura) seems to be based on this missing book.

The emphasis is on planning street orientations to maximize the benefits, and minimize the harms, from the various winds.

The London Vitruvius, the oldest surviving manuscript, includes only one of the original illustrations, a rather crudely drawn wind rose in the margin.

North was depicted with a fleur de lis, while east was shown as a Christian cross to indicate the direction of Jerusalem from Europe.

The length of each "spoke" around the circle is related to the frequency that the wind blows from a particular direction per unit time.

Wind rose plot for LaGuardia Airport (LGA), New York, New York . 2008
Four charts of the wind , 18th-century illustration based on medieval wind roses