In 1990
Chicago ranked 21st 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, closely followed by Great Falls,
Montana, with an average wind speed of 12.8 miles (20.6 kilometers) per hour.
The highest surface wind ever recorded was on Mount Washington, New Hampshire,
at an elevation of 6288 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. (The Handy Science Answer Book, compiled by the Science
and Technology department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh)
