Sport Today

The following is part of an article which was printed on page 23 of the March
1990 Windrider Magazine.
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The National Climatic Data Center released a report of the U.S. cities with
the highest yearly average wind speed based on reported speeds for 24-hour
periods in the past three decades.  Here are the top 10 and the respective
average mph for each:

     1.  Blue Hill, MA             15.4
     2.  Dodge City, KS            14.0
     3.  Amarillo, TX              13.6
     4.  Rochester NY              13.1
     5.  Cheyenne, WY              13.0
     6.  Casper, WY                12.9
     7.  Great Falls, MT           12.8
     8.  Goodland, KS              12.6
     9.  Boston, MS                12.5
    10.  Fargo, ND                 12.4
    10.  Oklahoma City, OK         12.4
    10.  Lubbock, TX               12.4

Chorpus Christi just misses the list at 12.0.  Cape Hatteras was not far
behind at 11.2.  San Francisco averages 10.6.

Unfortunately, the only cities listed were ones with weather stations.  The
closest city to the Columbia River Gorge is Portland.  But Mike Kinnicutt of
Gorge Gradient Guide, reports that the wind conditions in Portland are a far
cry from those of the mainland's boardsailing mecca.  He said the wind at the
George kicks up an average of 17.5 mph from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

A similar case exists for Maui.  The only city listed for Hawaii is Honolulu.
Lenny Cappe, president of the Maui Boardsailors Association, said that puts
him at a disadvantage.  He said that in Maui, the wind averages 25 mph from
noon to 4 p.m., boardsailing's "prime time," about 280 to 320 days a year.

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Corpus Christi used to say they were number 1 but it looks like that has
changed.

Why have we not heard about very many of the top 10 cities on this list?

Is there water very near to any of them?

Blue Hill, MA?? A CITY???
I got a chuckle out of this last March. My son and I have walked up
this 635 foot hill ten miles south of Boston several times and all we
ever find is an observation tower (with a great view of Boston), a
bunch of antennas, and... an unmanned weather station! No water on
top, either. And, sure it gets lots of wind; it's the highest point in
Greater Metropolitan Boston Area. They might as well have included Mt.
Washington, NH; they hold the world's record for wind speed and at
least that weather station is manned.

As for the ninth city on the list, the "MS" must be a typo, since
that's the wind speed we usually hear for Boston, MA.

In any case, for most of the "cities" on the list, the year-round
average is very misleading. Around here, we get most of our wind in
January to March, when just about everything is frozen solid. In the
summer, when the water finally warms up to tolerable, there's hardly any
wind, except a few afternoon thermals on Cape Cod. That list is yet
another example of how to lie with statistics.

P.S. Corpus Christi claims to be the windiest city in the U.S. with
both warm air and water (see WindRider April 1990).

I guess the pertinent response to the statistics is that, on the
average, humans have one testicle.

TvA