The arrow on a wine vane points into the wind and shows the direction from which the wind is blowing. Sky observations are clues to weather. The three basic types of clouds are cirrus, cumulus, and stratus. Cirrus clouds are wispy high clouds composed of ice crystals. Towering, billowing, or puffy cumulus clouds are found in both fair weather and approaching thunderstorms.
Stratus clouds are low layers of thick, gray clouds typical of overcast days.
They are often associated with rainy weather that lasts all day. The Jackson vessel has an on-board Davis Weather Station. There is also a weather station at the GVSU-WRI Muskegon shoreline facility. The sensor channels at the weather stations gather information about wind direction, wind speed, barometric pressure, relative humidity, temperature, and rainfall. Interesting comparisons can be made between conditions onshore and out in the lake.