When the weather becomes too severe for a wind turbine to handle, the system will feather and, in some cases, lock the blades. Feathering of a wind turbine rotates the blades to reduce the surface area affected by winds. Instead of the flat end of the blade facing vertically to catch the wind, a feathered turbine blade will instead face horizontally to avoid the high wind. The turbine itself will remain facing the direction of the wind.