St. Cloud is Just as Windy as Chicago (Maybe Even Windier)

After the wind-blown April we just had, I would think St. Cloud would totally be ranked one of the windiest cities in America. Turns out that there is a worse place to live in this state when it comes to wind conditions.

Rochester has just been named by USA Today as the second windiest city in all of the United States.

For our updated list for 2022, we refined our list to clarify city is any location with more than 50,000 people and based it on the newest wind speed data available from official NOAA data. This led to some changes in this year’s list, including a few new cities!

Rochester came in second, just a fraction of a wind speed lower than the windiest city of Amarillo, Texas. Here is how the top 10 came out:

1. Amarillo, Texas: Average wind speed of 12.9 mph
2. Rochester, Minnesota: 12.1 mph
3. Lubbock, Texas: 12 mph
4. Casper, Wyoming: 12 mph
5. Corpus Christi, Texas: 11.7 mph
6. Wichita, Kansas: 11.5 mph
7. Boston, Massachusetts: 11.5 mph
8. Great Falls, Montana: 11.4 mph
9. New York City, NY: 11.3 mph
10. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: 11.3 mph

You're probably thinking, "where is the windy city of Chicago?" Chi-Town clocked in at an average wind speed of 9 mph, which is still significant, but not enough to land on the top 10 list.

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The states out west and on the great plains didn't surprise me, but I was pretty surprised to see Boston and New York City on this list. I never pictured them as "windy towns", and maybe it doesn't feel so windy there because of the giant skyscrapers acting as wind blocks.

So how does St. Cloud compare to this top 10 list? Here is what Weather Spark shared:

The average hourly wind speed at St. Cloud Regional Airport experiences significant seasonal variation over the course of the year. The windier part of the year lasts for 8.3 months, from September 17 to May 28, with average wind speeds of more than 10.5 miles per hour.

During the calmer part of the year the average wind speed is 9 miles per hour. So we rank right around Chicago for wind speed. Definitely interesting to think about!