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Chicago fact of the day
The average wind speed down Michigan Ave.: 10.4 mph
The average wind speed in Boston: 12.5 mph
The average wind speed in New York City: 12.2 mph
The Windy City, anyone? It turns out the name was adopted in the 19th century to promote the city's beaches. That is from Discover magazine, March 2006 issue, back page.
Update: Wikipedia offers a different perspective on the origins of the name. Read this too. The trail also leads to my childhood chess-playing friend Barry Popik.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on February 9, 2006 at 07:35 AM in Data Source | Permalink
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Comments
What about the variance? 12.5mph with a variance of 1mph is much more pleasant than 10.4mph with a variance of 10mph.
Posted by: Noel Welsh at Feb 9, 2006 7:57:13 AM
I read the Eric Larson book "Devil in the White City" recently and he claims that the moniker "Windy City" refers to Chicago's long-winded politicians. It supposedly originated by NYC paper editor Charles Dana during the campaign to host the World’s Fair in the 1890’s.
Posted by: Mike V at Feb 9, 2006 8:00:34 AM
Yes I thought that the term "Windy City" refered to the politcians at the time the phrase was coined. Also the sample is not consistent...What is the comparable street in New York or Boston? Are you saying that if you take one wind sample on Michigan Ave that it represents all of Chicago? Where did they collect the data in Boston? In New York? How would you feel about this statement...State St. Chicago has an average of 14 inches of snow per year. New York receives 15 and Boston receives 18. Therefore I conclude that New York and Boston have higher snowfall totals per year.
Posted by: Brett L at Feb 9, 2006 8:37:34 AM
I'm not sure about the true origins, but local lore always explains it as a comment on the braggadocio of politicians.
Posted by: Chris at Feb 9, 2006 11:22:01 AM
Noel raised my point, but without addressing the relevance thereof. It was supposed to be a statistician, not an economist, who got blown into the Chicago River when trying to cross IBM Plaza in a wind averaging 10.4 mph.
I do admit, BTW, that this only happens when the Plaza ices over.
Posted by: triticale at Feb 9, 2006 11:58:44 AM
Growing up in Chicago I was always taught that the term "Windy City" is reference to the politicians as well. Like Chris said, local lore has that it was the "braggadocio of politicians" that brought about this phrase. I have never even heard of the source that Discover magazine referenced. Then again, I am not a Chicago historian!
Posted by: tdl at Feb 9, 2006 12:36:00 PM
When I was in Chicago, people always said "it's not about the weather, it's about the politicians" -- but it was always said like a joke, the implication being of course it's about the weather, but it could just as easily be about the politicians.
By the way, there is a similar debate over the origin of the name "Chicago." Chicago boosters ( http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/originame.html ) say it comes from an word meaning "strong" or "great" in some never-specified Indian language. However, it more likely comes from an Algonquian word meaning “onion field” ( http://www.answers.com/topic/chicago ).
What I find amazing is that the very same word in Athabaskan means "place of high crime, lousy weather, and corrupt politicians." ;-)
Posted by: Robert Book at Feb 9, 2006 12:50:39 PM
Try the corner of Wacker and Adams.
Posted by: Sandy P at Feb 9, 2006 6:27:34 PM
I don't believe the numbers. Having lived in both Chicago and New York
it seems to me the former wins by a landslide, or at least a whoosh.
San Francisco is one of the windiest cities I know of.
Posted by: Bill Stepp at Feb 9, 2006 6:37:29 PM
Try the corner of Wacker and Adams.
Amen. That wind blowing off the lake in January when you are walking to work, it sticks in your mind.
Posted by: mickslam at Feb 9, 2006 7:02:09 PM
When I moved to Cambridge, England, I was v amused at the absurd local claim that it's windy. It isn't, but it feels windy because cyclists notice the wind more. Perhaps rowing eights do too.
Posted by: dearieme at Feb 9, 2006 10:47:42 PM
My name is Barry Popik. The New York Sun editor Charles A. Dana alleged quotation regarding what would be Chicago's 1893 World's Fair is a myth. Dana either never or rarely used "Windy City."
...
All of our early "Windy City " citations come from Cincinnati, not New York. The earliest found so far has been May 1876, from the Cincinnati Enquirer.
...
In 2004, the Encyclopedia of Chicago (a project of the Newberry Library and the Chicago Hisorical Society, published by the University of Chicago) plagiarized my older work, using my citations from 1885 and 1886 without compensation or credit. Those still appear in the online Encyclopedia of Chicago.
...
Please write to the Chicago Historical Society. Ten years after they rejected my work, they now plagiarize my old work. It's shameless. I'm getting married soon (Tyler is invited if he wants to attend) and I'd like this to be resolved after so many years!
Posted by: Bsrry Popik at Feb 10, 2006 12:41:40 AM
If one looks at the purported origin of the "it's the politicians" etymology, it is fairly transparently clear that Chicago was already well-known as the Windy City (presumably for reasons relating to weather) when the allusion to bombastic politicians was first made. The phrasing of the remark would make no sense if the expression hadn't already been current when it was made.
I'd point out that variance is well worth looking at, had several others not already done so. I will merely add, in my capacity as a resident, that variance in windspeed here does seem unusually high...certainly high enough to give rise to a nickname.
Posted by: Matt at Feb 10, 2006 5:49:06 AM
My cat likes to eat spaghetti.
Posted by: Kent Bray at Feb 10, 2006 8:55:26 AM
I'm glad there are data to back up my anecdotes about the freezing wind blowing across the Charles River on my morning walk to work. Chicago ain't got nothin' on Boston.
CP
Boston, MA
Posted by: carpundit at Feb 10, 2006 1:56:05 PM
check out http://www.met.utah.edu/jhorel/html/wx/climate/windavg.html for windy comparisons.
Posted by: Andy G at Feb 10, 2006 8:20:22 PM
You're all wrong-- Tooele, Utah is the REAL windy city. Every time Salt Lake City gets a big storm, Tooele (which is just over the Oquirrh Mountains to the west of SLC) gets horrendous south winds. Then the snow or rain all falls on SLC, leaving none for Tooele.
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