The Windy City *

Chicago, the Windy City.

Why does Chicago have that nickname? If you said it is because of the gusts off Lake Michigan, making the city windy, I would say, hogwash, you’re wrong. Completely wrong!

The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) has a list of annual average wind speeds. Below is a partial list showing where Chicago ranks:

City, State                           Average Wind Speed

01.  Boston, MA                        12.4 mph

02.  Buffalo, NY                         11.8 mph

03.  Milwaukee, WI                    11.5 mph

04.  Honolulu, HI                        11.3 mph

05.  Dallas, TX                           10.7 mph

06.  Kansas City, MO                 10.6 mph

San Francisco, CA              10.6 mph

08. Cleveland, OH                      10.5 mph

Minneapolis, MN                  10.5 mph

10. Providence, RI                      10.4 mph

11. Chicago, IL                          10.3 mph

Detroit, MI                           10.3 mph

Worcester, MA                    10.1 mph

New York City, NY                9.3 mph

                  Las Vegas, NV                     9.2 mph

Well what do you know? Chicago can’t even break this top 10 (partial) list. In fact, Boston isn’t even ranked #1 if you go to the NCDC website and look at the complete list.

So as you can see, the ‘windy city of Chicago’ isn't high on the list as you might think. It’s also not how Chicago earned that nickname. In fact it has absolutely nothing to do with any annual average wind speeds. I’ve only included the list so that I can meet my ‘at least 200 words per blog’ quota. (lol).

The nickname had something to do with politics, or more precisely, it had something to do with the politicians of that city.

There are so many local urban legends floating around on how Chicago got that nickname. One of the more popular legend (and the only legend that I’ve heard many times before) goes like this:

Back in the mid to late 1800’s, where Chicago was a great spot for politics and the politicians there loved to talk. The term ‘The Windy City’ was dubbed (by someone unknown) because of the wind produced by all of that city politicians’ constant rant. Kindly put in another way, Chicago is windy because of all the hot air belching out of its politicians’ mouths.  

Not a flattering nickname is it?  Now you really know why Chicago is ‘The Windy City’.

[* Note: I don’t agree with Wikipedia’s version, which I’ve never heard before. I think Wikipedia is inaccurate. This prompted me to blog my version.].