Der Wind dreht auf Südost?

Question

Does that mean that* the wind will be *coming from* south-east (since wind direction is usually reported by the direction from which it originates)or that* the wind will be *blowing to* south-east (which is how I'd intuitively interpret "auf")?

Answer 1

The figure of speech "auf .... drehen," refers to the turning or cranking of the wheel or tiller of a ship to steer a new course. Therefore "der Wind dreht auf Südost" means that the wind is changing (turning) its course to southeast. And yes, like with all wind directions, it means that it will blow from the stated direction.

HTH