Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Top 10 windiest cities

  •  1.Blue Hill, MA
  • 2.Dodge City, KS
  • 3.Amarillo, TX
  • 4.Rochester, MN
  • 5.Casper, WY [and]
  • 6.Cheyenne, WY [tie]
  • 7.Great Falls, MT
  • 8.Goodland, KS
  • 9.Boston, MA
  • 10.Lubbock, TX

 Notice Chicago is not on this list?

     Actually, none of the cities on this list have anywhere near 1 million people, and with the exception of perhaps Boston, do not have many tall buildings.  Whereas New York City, Chicago, and even Indianapolis, have a concentrated downtown with many tall buildings.  Thus, the more populated cities, or larger cities, have a greater number of taller buildings which hinders the wind from gaining speed.

 Thus, Chicago which is known as "the windy city", has a claim to fame which is almost paradoxical.  That is, being a city usually means lots of buildings, and that slows the wind down.   However, Chicago is likely one of the top ten windiest cities with more than 1 millions people. 

     So, when someone throws out the fact that Chicago is not one of the windiest cities, you can debate with them if Blue Hill, MA is really a "city".  See how fun science can be in social situations?  You'll make all sorts of new friends, just none from Blue Hill, Mass. 

From Weather Savy via Information Junk

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chicago is not called "the windy city" because its windy. Chicago is called "the windy city" because after the big fire, chicagoans contiuously bragged about how much better chicago was than NYC, so new yorkers started referring to Chicago as "the windy city", meaning they are "full of wind"...

Anonymous said...

Being that there are only nine cities in the US with over a million people, I would place my money on Chicago being in the top 10 of windiest cities with more than a million people. :)

Anonymous said...

I live in Cheyenne, WY, and it is never windy inthe summer, unless a storm is coming in. But it is ALWAYS windy in the winter, with winds normally at 35mph a day, with gust up to 75-80 mph. I think we should be the windiest city, along with Casper,WY

Anonymous said...

you need to brush up on your physics if you think buildings "slow down" the wind. The wind doesn't see the buildings and get scared and relax it's pace... it goes around them, and this creates a wind tunnel effect. velocity of a fluid is inversely proportional to the area it is traveling through. (this is why the hose speeds up when you put your finger over the end). and yes, gases are fluids.

Anonymous said...

I can vouch for Rochester being abnormally windy. Who knew that the city of 100,000 south of the Twin Cities could move so much air?

Anonymous said...

The criteria for the windiest city seems to be the speed of the wind when it really should be "where the wind blows all the time and never stops". I have lived in many places in the US from Maine to NY to Florida, into Detroit, rural Indiana, and yes Chicago; to the south in MS, to Texas, and to Oregon and Washington state. And then I moved to the Tri-State area of the Nebraska Panhandle, Cheyenne, WY and Fort Collins, CO. The most wind - a constant wind that never stops - is Cheyenne, WY. I know people that "go crazy" there because of the constant wind. I have seen semi trailer trucks over turned in the I-25 corridor south of Cheyenne because of 100 mph wind gusts on a perfectly sunny afternoon. This is an area where "high wind warnings" are posted on the highway electronic signs most of the time and the 30 to 45 mph wind blowing on this part of the Interstate is NORMAL. People complain about body aches and headaches and they move away saying "the wind grates on my nerves." It is terrible. A chinook wind can lift the winter temperature from minus degree to 50 degrees in a matter of one hour. Cheyenne, WY is where the wind blows always and forever and people need to not live there if you have sensitive nervous systems. (As I write listening to the 75 mph wind now whipping and rattling around my house.)

Anonymous said...

I live in Great Falls, MT, and it is so windy here year round that we actually think it odd when the wind isn't blowing, which honestly doesn't happen very often.

Anonymous said...

I live in Amarillo, Texas and the wind here is atrocious. every day it's at least 25 mph and most days it's 35. 50 mph gusts are usually present, and a day without wind is super rare. Actually yesterday, it was near 80 degrees, and in a matter of 1 hour a north wind of about 35 mph blew in and dropped the temp 40 degrees; weirdest thing I've ever experienced.

Anonymous said...

I ive in great falls Mt and its is so windy here all the time it is horrible lol this city should for sure be the windiest city in America

bosnianXCII said...

Great Falls, Electric City, G-Funk, or whatever you call it is the loser of this debate. Yes, uncontested loser. Windiest city is not a contest, it's a horrendous obstacle that makes even the most menial tasks of life miserable. Only you folk of other said cities even have a clue of our collective pain. We couldn't fly kits on regular (windy) days and had to wait until calm (breezy) days, you have no control and the strings aren't strong enough. Playing basketball indoors really reveals our affliction, my jumpshot will without fail veer to the right, but play horse on my driveway and it's nuthin' but net. In fact, I'm trying to think of sport that isn't travestied from our ghastly gusts. Frisbee, soccer, football, badminton, volleyball, tennis; ALL, rendered useless.
But even you others on the top ten list don't know diddly squat about a windy city. How does a 50 mph wind feel at 10 below zero (we don't use windchill factor, it's assumed (F)) in Kansas or Texas? Yeah, that's right. And guess when the wind stops? Only if it's above 80. Think it's rough? Try living in a city where in 6 months you have to experience -38 and 105 degrees. There's no escaping the psychological damage it does. Blue Hill, you aren't even a city, your an observatory. Try standing on mountain in Montana sometime. Rochester, Casper, and Cheyenne folk, you're the only ones who have it worse than Great Falls, because even if our average annual wind speed is a mere 12.7 mph compared to your colossal 13.1 and 12.9 respectively, at least we're not in Minnesota or Wyoming.

Anonymous said...

Hi there,
As a Bostonian, I just wanted to give my two cents. 'Blue Hill, MA' is not an actual city (nor a place at all), and I believe that the report from which you drew this list notes 'Blue Hill Observatory, MA' as the windiest place based upon average annual wind speed. The Observatory is about 10 miles south of Boston, located in--you guessed it--the Blue Hills.

Given that the observatory ranks first and Boston proper ninth, it's safe to say that Boston is the windiest city in the United States, based upon average annual wind speed. Just look at what happened when I.M. Pei designed the John Hancock.

Cheyenne and Casper both rank (so do you, Amarillo, and you, Great Falls, and you, Rochester), but given the average statistical data of the metropolitan area, you can rest assured that on any given day, it's windier here.

Add to that the fact that the city's skyscrapers indeed do contribute to a significant increase in wind speed by restricting the area through which the fluid (wind) can move, so it's even worse on the ground than up at an observation point, and you've got yourself a windy city, especially considering the fact that the population of this city is about twice that of Cheyenne, Casper, Amarillo, and Great Falls combined.

Again, if we're measuring average annual wind speed in the US, then greater Boston outranks them all, and as an added bonus, we don't complain about it like the midwest seems to. Also, yes, the Chicago moniker is just a nickname, based upon the people and the place, not the weather.

Interesting to note is that the highest recorded wind speeds on earth were taken at the top of Mt Washington in NH--that's on earth, which includes all 'mountains in Montana,' and everything else. New England's got you covered when it comes to wind.

Peace, love, happiness, and the Red Sox

Anonymous said...

Did you hear about the one day the wind didn't blow in Casper, Wyoming? All the antelope fell over!!!

Anonymous said...

I have lived my whole life in Chicago, everyone here knows we are called the windy city because of the politics here. It has nothing to do with wind!

Anonymous said...

From what I have gathered Chicago is called the "windy city" because a New York newspaper used the name in an article to besmirch the city, as they were fighting over the 1893 Worlds Fair. As far as large cities from what I've found NYC's Laguardia Airport is the windiest with a 12.3 avg speed and Chicago's O'Hare is 10.2 I think. As far as moving about the city itself I would have to say Boston and NYC fight for the top spot.

Anonymous said...

My two cents... I have lived in Chicago, Hartford (between NY and Boston), Wyoming (Casper, Laramie, Jackson), and Bozeman MT. And in my experience, the winner of misery, by and far... is Casper WY. Ask a semi-truck where they constantly fear for their lives, where the street lights are built as arches instead of poles, it's Casper and Cheyenne WY. The worst part, all the wind is collected into one time period... the winter. If you are a masochist, move to Casper WY.