When a wind is described as a Northeasterly or Southwesterly, is that the direction it is travelling, or where it came from?

MIKE MOSS SAYS:        Sarah,       The general protocol for wind direction in weather observations and forecasts is for the wind direction to indicate where the wind id blowing from. So a northeasterly wind blows from the northeast, and so on. As an example, a helium balloon released in a southeasterly wind will travel toward the northwest.