With the method of a wind tank experiment, the real scenario of lakes with horizontal and vertical circulation of wind-induced flows is considered, and the features of wind wave height and its distribution in the different conditions of wind blowing distance, wind speed and water depth are studied systematically. Afterwards, comparison of the wave height distributions derived directly from experiment and the typical wave height distribution models show that some defects exist in typical wave height distribution models when describing wind wave height distribution in the wave growth stage. On this basis, we propose a new distribution model which is suitable for the description of wind wave height during the growth stage, and the model parameters are acquired with the programming solution method. Finally, the model is further optimized by relating B to σa, and Hs to σa. Comparison results of the optimized model and the typical ones show that the optimized model has advantages in calculation accuracy and convenience of use.