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Is Chicago the windiest city?

In 1990, Chicago ranked twenty-first in the list of 68 windy cities, with an average wind speed of 10.3 miles (16.6 kilometers) per hour. Cheyenne, Wyoming, with an average wind speed of 12.9 miles ( 20.8 kilometers) per hour, ranks number one. It is closely followed by Great Falls, Montana, which has an average wind speed of 12.8 miles (20.6 kilometers) per hour.

The highest surface wind speed ever recorded was on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, at an elevation of 6,288 feet (1.9 kilometers). On April 12, 1934, its wind was 231 miles (371.7 kilometers) per hour and its average wind speed was 35 miles (56.3 kilometers) per hour.

Sources: Krantz, Les. The Best and Worst of Everything, pp. 102-3; Williams, Jack. The Weather Book, p. 43.

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