There are some places where a headscarf and windbreaker just won’t cut it. Places that are regularly whipped and whisked up by extreme, super-speedy winds. Places that rank 12 on the Beaufort Scale, where levels range from 0-12, with 5 being a fresh breeze of 19-24mph (30-38km/h) to 12, a hurricane registering 72mph (116km/h) and above. These are the world’s windiest places, from those that regularly experience great gusts to locations where the world’s highest wind speeds have been recorded. Spoiler: Chicago isn’t one of them.
The capital of Newfoundland and Labrador has been described as the windiest city in Canada. The colourful coastal city – known for the tiny, brightly hued homes clustered in the cliffs of the Battery – experiences average annual wind speeds of around 13mph (21km/h), with average annual maximum gusts reaching 19mph (31km/h).
The city’s record highest wind speed is a relatively low – but still pretty intense – 98mph (157km/h), recorded in December 2019 and again in January 2020. It’s the consistency of its windiness, particularly in the cold, foggy winters, that earns it a spot on our list.
This remotest of locations has what’s believed to be the world’s highest average annual wind speed, battered by blusters travelling at an incredible 50mph (80km/h). The fastest recorded speed was registered at Cape Denison in 1995, whipping up to a head-spinning 127mph (204km/h). Early 20th century explorers observed winds up to 168mph (270km/h) during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, though these aren’t counted as official records.
The region holds the record for the fastest katabatic, or downslope, winds, which are caused by cold, dense air at high altitude being forced by gravity to flow downhill. Here, those winds are driven into the bay, causing snow blizzards and intensely powerful whirlpools.
This headland on Oregon’s southwest coast is whipped by extreme winds in winter, reaching speeds of up to 70mph (113km/h) every few years or so. But conditions were even more intense during the infamous Columbus Day storm in October 1962, when the area recorded a gust that reached 145mph (233km/h). Take a look at the world's most dramatic weather photos since 1900.
It was the strongest gust registered during the storm, which battered much of the Pacific Northwest coast including parts of Washington state. Cape Blanco has a pretty windy reputation, though. Its lighthouse, built in 1870, was equipped with a powerful radio beacon because the area’s strong winds made it a notorious shipwreck site. Check out America's most violent storms.
New Zealand’s capital has the dubious distinction of being the world’s windiest city (despite Chicago having the Windy City nickname). Its average annual wind speed is 29mph (47km/h), which would be enough to have most of us squinting and seeking cover. Things became particularly stormy in the winter of 1962, however, when the city experienced its highest recorded wind speed: a blisteringly blustery 154mph (248km/h).
It was registered on Hawkins Hill, a few miles from the centre. This windiest of years saw the city – which is the world’s most southerly capital, found to the south of New Zealand’s North Island – battered by gale-force winds (defined as above 42mph or 68km/h) on 233 days. The whipping winds are believed to be due to the gusts being funnelled through Cook Strait, a 14-mile-wide (22.5km) gap between North Island and the mountains of South Island.
This archipelago, which lies between the northern tip of Scotland and the Faroe Islands, is considered the UK’s windiest destination according to Met Office data. The islands have a respectably blustery average annual wind speed of 15mph (24km/h) but is said to have experienced rather more extreme gusts of 173mph (278km/h). This was registered in 1986 at Muckle Flugga Lighthouse, which perches on a rocky islet of the same name, but remains an unofficial record.
The instrument that registered the speed was, ironically, destroyed by violent localised gusts soon afterwards. Shetland, which consists of more than 100 islands, with 15 of those inhabited, generally enjoys a pretty mild climate. Winter sees the strongest winds, sometimes reaching up to hurricane force (above 73mph or 117km/h), while it’s far calmer in spring and summer. And thankfully the landscape is pretty hilly, with sheltered valleys offering respite on the most blustery days.
This popular Scottish ski resort town is overlooked by the site of the UK’s strongest ever winds based on official records. Extreme blusters hit the snowy summit of Cairngorm Mountain at a ferocious 173mph (278km/h) in March 1986. Cairngorm – or Cairn Gorm – means ‘The Blue Hill’, and we expect any faces or fingers exposed nearby that day would have turned that colour too.
The mountaintop is often whipped by strong gusts, and there were later claims that winds reached speeds of 194mph (312km/h). What would have superseded the 1986 record was apparently reached in late 2008, though the anemometer (wind-monitoring device) wiped the data with no official reading or printout to back the claim.
This mighty mountain, whose summit straddles the border of China and Nepal, is no stranger to extremes. It’s the highest mountain above sea level, probably the most famous mountain in the world, and makes regular appearances on travel bucket lists. Summiting its 29,029 feet (8,848m) and facing the effects of altitude is no walk in the park, either. Throw in blizzards and wind speeds of 175mph (282km/h) and it becomes impossible.
The record wind speeds – in the same range as a Category 5 hurricane, classed as 157mph (253km/h) or above – were recorded at the summit in February 2004. Extreme blusters hitting at speeds above 100mph (161km/h) are frighteningly common in winter, with May and September considered the calmest months – and understandably the most popular for making an ascent. Learn more secrets about the world's most beautiful mountains.
A new state record was potentially set in February 2020 at Kirkwood Mountain, a resort just south of Lake Tahoe in northern California. A gust whistling at an eye-watering 209mph (336km/h) was registered at the peak, 9,186 feet (2,800m) above ground. The previous record was set not far away at Ward Peak, to the west of Lake Tahoe. Gusts of 199mph (320km/h) were registered there in November 2017.
Kirkwood Mountain’s slopes, known for skiing and snowboarding, were cleared due to the storms, which battered parts of the west coast from southern California up to Oregon and Washington state. In Lake Tahoe, waves above five-feet (1.5m) tall were reported on the water’s usually glassily calm surface.
This mountain peak, also known as Agiocochook, held the title for having the highest recorded wind speed for more than 60 years. An eye-watering 231mph (372km/h) was registered by staff in the mountain’s observatory in April 1934. Northeastern USA’s highest peak is in the eye of several storm paths that regularly collide with this natural barrier.
The record was beaten in 1996, when Barrow Island in Australia blew away the competition by a margin of more than 20mph (32km/h). Still, with an average annual wind speed of around 32mph (51km/h) and average highs of 46mph (74km/h) in its windiest month, January, Mount Washington is considered the windiest spot in the US and experiences hurricane-force (above 73mph or 117km/h) winds on more than 100 days per year.
The average annual wind speed on Barrow Island, a private marine park and oil field off the coast of Western Australia’s Pilbara region (pictured), is a pretty manageable 12mph (19km/h). Which makes it an unlikely ‘winner’ in the ranking of the world’s windiest places. This is where the fastest wind speed not associated with a tornado was recorded: an incredible and frankly terrifying 254mph (408km/h), reached in April 1996.
The unimaginable winds were whipped up by the powerful Cyclone Olivia, which produced the single strongest known gust of wind ever registered. Olivia isn’t actually the most intense cyclone recorded, though. There are several ways to measure the strength of these storms, with Typhoon Tip – in the western North Pacific in 1979 – the most intense based on central pressure and Patricia, which hit the eastern North Pacific in 2015, the strongest according to sustained wind speeds. Now discover the worst weather disasters in Australia.
This is where it gets sticky. Barrow Island is the official record holder, but it’s contested that the fastest wind speed ever on Earth actually whipped its way through the Bridge Creek area of Oklahoma City – part of the USA’s so-called Tornado Alley because they hit so frequently. Whip-fast winds of 302mph (486km/h) were registered when a tornado hit in May 1999, with the speed recorded by a mobile Doppler radar.
It’s listed as the fastest wind speed by Guinness World Records, yet it isn’t counted as the fastest measured wind speed because of the equipment used: Doppler radars aren’t officially recognised. Oklahoma City’s average highest wind speed is a relative breeze at 13mph (21km/h), with early April typically the windiest time of year.