A wind barb is a compact way to represent both wind direction and wind speed in a single symbol. If there is wind, a staff will point to the direction the wind is coming from.
![](barb-dir.png)
Wind speed is represented by the number of feathers and flags coming off the staff. If there is no wind, the barb is displayed as a circle with no staff or flags. A short feather represents 5 mph, a long feather is 10 mph and a flag (or pennant) is 50 mph. Summing the values of the feathers and flags gives the wind speed.
![](barb-speed.png)