What Parts of the Country Regularly See the Highest Wind Speeds

While Chicago is certainly one of the windiest metro areas in the U.S., its nickname of the "Windy City" does not actually have anything to do with the weather. Why did this moniker stick and where does the city stack up against its counterparts when it comes to windy conditions? Here is what you need to know.

Origins of Chicago's Windy City Nickname

Most people understandably credit Chicago's nickname of the Windy City to the frequent gusts that come off of Lake Michigan and flow through the skyscrapers that line this large body of water. The truth is that while the nickname of the Windy City may describe Chicago's weather, its origins stem from the political sphere.

The name came about in 1893 when a reporter for the New York Sun used it to describe Chicago's verbose and opinionated politicians. The reporter had been writing about a rivalry between New York and Chicago as the two metro areas battled it out to host the World's Fair. The Chicago politicians quickly earned the title after their unabashed promotion of their town.

Although the name has political roots rather than meteorological ones, that does not mean that the city is not exceptionally breezy. According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Chicago is indeed the windiest big city in the U.S. NOAA defines a big city as one with a population of over 1 million people.

The NOAA report looks at average wind speed data for 240 weather stations across the continental U.S. At an average wind speed of 4.4 mph, Chicago barely edges out Dallas with an average speed of 4.2 mph. Philadelphia clocks in at 4.1 mph for third on the list while San Antonio and Houston round out the top five.

NOAA calculates average annual wind speeds using average daily wind measurements that come from hourly data reports. This includes times of a calm wind, recorded as a zero on the measurement scale.

When population is not part of the considerations, the communities of Dodge City, Kansas, and Amarillo, Texas, are tied for the top spot with an average speed of 5.8 mph. Goodland, Kansas; Clayton, New Mexico; and Rochester, Minnesota are all tied at 5.4 mph. What this list demonstrates is that the Plains and the Rockies are the windiest regions overall in the country.

On the other side of the spectrum, the least windy metro areas in the U.S. are Los Angeles, California; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Medford, Oregon; Bristol, Tennessee; and Charleston, West Virginia. Los Angeles's average wind speed comes in at a mere 0.8 mph. Furthermore, none of the top five least windy communities has an average speed over 2 mph.

In addition to the perspective provided by NOAA, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) details estimates of average wind speeds at 30 feet above the individual station's elevations. However, unlike the NOAA data set, the NREL data points only use measurements from 2013 to 2017, providing a more accurate listing of recent years rather than NOAA's list that goes back for decades.

The NREL data also confirms that higher elevations are windier, in general. The inland portions of the Southeast are the least windy region of the U.S. Despite the Southeast seeing plenty of tropical weather events, these winds tend to dissipate as the systems move farther inland.