# In which direction does WindDirection 0° point?

I was playing around with WeatherData. In this moment:

WeatherData["Milan", "WindDirection"]

(*0°*)


which is nice, but 0°, with respect to which direction? The documentation simply says

"WindDirection".........wind direction in degrees

• Clockwise from North. As clearly stated in the .... wait for it.... documentation? – ciao Jul 20 '16 at 7:37
• @ciao Yes, but only in the documentation of WindDirectionData, not WeatherData. – Szabolcs Jul 20 '16 at 7:39
• @Szabolcs - which is in the "see also" section of WeatherData.... I've never used either, took a grand total of 15 seconds to get the answer... – ciao Jul 20 '16 at 7:44

In the documentation of WindDirectionData I see:

Find the most recent wind direction measurement near your current location as measured clockwise from due north:

This can be confirmed by using a Wolfram Alpha query and looking at the visualization as a small compass:

WindDirectionData[] also give 160 degrees, so it's the same.

I agree with the person posting the question, the documentation of this curated data value is poorly done. Having the answer embedded in an example indirectly found via one of twelve possible 'See Also' links is not an example of good documentation system. Yes, people should first consult existing documentation and learn how to use the documentation system. However, Wolfram's documentation system is not on par with the quality and effectiveness of the overall product. An example, IMHO, of a leading documentation system would be the ability to type a natural language query in the help query field and get as rich an answer as is returned by WolframAlpha's ability to return for curated data. Example: 'Search documentation: What units are used by WeatherData?