Northwards means towards the north. It tells you the way something is moving or facing, not the place it already sits — a train can run northwards even while it is still in the south. British English uses this form with s a lot (walk northwards, look northwards); American English often writes northward, without the s. People understand both. You will hear it with travel, maps, weather, and stories: birds flying northwards in spring, a river flowing northwards, the wind shifting northwards. Though actually, in careful talk a wind going northwards is heading north, which is not the same as a north wind (a north wind comes from the north). It is a direction word, a little more bookish than just saying to the north, but not stiff.