The snow hasn’t stuck around for very long lately, but the blustering winds remain strong. Wind, of all speeds and coming from any direction, can affect all living things, but when it enters gale ...

Wind aloft: The wind speeds and directions at various levels in the atmosphere above the domain of surface weather observations; hence winds at any level above a few hundred feet off the ground.

A viewer question this week asked me whether strong wind events have become more common in Pueblo over the last 20 years. The dataset isn't long enough to conclude - but wind directions have changed.

North and south of 30 degrees, the wind blows in all directions as storms go hither and yon, but a poleward direction is the most common so that the high pressure can disperse.

But hey, that’s not a satisfying answer, and I know you didn’t ask just to hear that.So, I did a little digging to find out when and why wind direction got defined by where it’s coming from ...