Windy Wellington
Wellington is the world's windiest city
To put things into perspective, in the United States, any urban area with an
average wind speed of more than 7 knots (12.9 km/h) is considered a windy city.
Take Chicago, for example. America's Windy City has an average wind speed of
8.9 knots (16.6 km/h). Have spent a lot of time there, it can be windy + cold ! But Wellington tops that with an impressive annual mean wind speed of 11.8
knots (22 km/h).
Wellington is, in fact, extremely windy. It's not just reputation. On some
days, especially in October, you might have problems walking on the street.
You have to keep your dogs on a chain in October.
During October, the city has a spectacular mean of 27 days with wind speeds
over 15 knots, 19 of which are over 20 knots.
North is the prevailing wind direction in Wellington.
So, the capital city of New Zealand is the windiest metropolitan region in
the world. However, Wellington is not the windiest
place on Planet Earth.
The Guinness World Record belongs to Commonwealth Bay, in Antarctica, with
an average annual wind speed of 43.1 knots (80 km/h).
The strongest wind gust ever - 220 knots (407.44 km/h) - was recorded on
Barrow Island, Australia.