Antique story books pictured the North Wind as a bitter old man with snowflakes in his hair and icicles dripping from his nose, but the South Wind arrived in flowing robes as a soft and gentle lady. Although just illustrations, these whimsical portraits are actually quite accurate: winds from different locations can be expected to show specific characteristics, and are therefore named after their place of origin. A north wind very likely materialized in some frozen arctic wasteland, and can blow into town as cold and nasty as the old man in a child's tale. But a south wind that arises from the Gulf of Mexico might bring, like the gentle lady, gifts of warmer breezes.

Meteorologists need two specific pieces of information when describing wind: the direction from which the wind is blowing and the speed at which it's moving, sometimes called strength or magnitude. To indicate both these quantities in a convenient format, meteorologists employ a technique called vector notation. Although it sounds somewhat intimidating, vector notation is simply a shorthand method of labeling the direction and speed of a wind. Instead of writing out "the wind is blowing from the south at a speed of approximately 22 mph,"a meteorologist can simply jot down "180/22" to describe the same information.