Popular Minnesota City Just Named One Of Windiest In U.S.
If you thought it was windy Thursday, boy, were you right. But it makes sense, seeing as one Minnesota city was just named one of the Windiest Cities in the entire country.
And while the Twin Cities were dealing with particularly strong winds Thursday (the National Weather Service says those winds were blowing between 15 to 25 miles an hour, with gusts up to 40 mph), this city in the Land of 10,000 Lakes is used to having howling winds, because it was landed a place near the top of the 10 Windiest U.S. Cities.
In fact, only one other city was windier in 2023 than the North Star State's own Rochester, Minnesota. At least, that's according to this list of the 10 Windiest U.S. Cities which was compiled by the Weather Station Experts. Rochester has routinely been named one of the windiest cities not only here in Minnesota but across the United States, as well. And they've sure been living up to that ranking so far this year.
ALSO INTERESTING: This MN City Was Named One of 15 'Snobbiest Cities' in US
According to the Weather Station Experts list, only Amarillo, Texas has windier conditions than Minnesota's Med City of Rochester. Check out the entire list below, along with the average wind speed for each city:
10 Windiest U.S. Cities for 2023
- Amarillo, Texas: Average wind speed of 12.9 mph
- Rochester, Minnesota: 12.1 mph
- Lubbock, Texas: 12 mph
- Casper, Wyoming: 12 mph
- Corpus Christi, Texas: 11.7 mph
- Wichita, Kansas: 11.5 mph
- Boston, Massachusetts: 11.5 mph
- Great Falls, Montana: 11.4 mph
- New York City, NY: 11.3 mph
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: 11.3 mph
The National Weather Service in La Crosse was expecting winds Thursday to be blowing from 20 to 30 miles an hour in Rochester, while it was also predicting gusts of between 45 to 50 miles an hour.
That's pretty windy, but it's not the windiest it's ever been in Rochester. The National Weather Service said that back in March 2021, the Rochester International Airport recorded a wind gust of 53 miles per hour to take the top spot on its list of Peak Wind Gusts. Stewartville recorded a gust of 46 mph, and the helipad at Mayo Clinic's St. Marys Hospital in Rochester recorded a 44 mph gust as well.
This totally validates-- and maybe even moves us up on-- this new listing of the Top 10 Windiest Cities in the U.S. Back in 2019, this USA Today story noted that Rah-Rah-Rochester was ranked 9th on the list.
And while Minnesota definitely had some windy gusts earlier this week, ours weren't all that impressive compared to the massive wind gusts recorded at the Mount Washington Observatory-- some of which have topped 100 miles an hour! Check out this video to see what it's like to try to stand up in THAT kind of wind!
Of course, while the wind blowing your garbage cans down the street CAN be annoying here in Minnesota, many of us have grown used to it. But that's not the ONLY annoying thing that happens here, is it? Keep scrolling to check out some OTHER annoying things that Minnesotans have to deal with too.
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