Fact #234

Real Fact #234: Great Falls, Montana, is the windiest city in the U.S.

Located in Cascade County, Great Falls boasts a population of over 58,950 (as of 2011 census). It is located in western Montana, towards the north, and is situated just east of the Rocky Mountains. Keep driving east from this city and you will discover why Montana is called "Big Sky Country." The climate is considered cold and semi-arid. Average temperatures in the summer reach into the eighties and fall as low as the teens during the winter, especially in January and February. Extreme freezes have been known to take place every month of the year, except July. (Wikipedia)

Great Falls has been known for its wind, at least within the state. I know multiple people from the area, and they have explained how windy the area can get. And yet, as my friends tell me, it is illegal to fly a kite within city limits. Yet Great Falls being the windiest city in the United States? I did a little research, and found there actually isn't a concrete answer...

According to CurrentResults.com, Boston is the windiest city, with average wind speed clocking in at 12.3 mph.

Ask.com, who I will mention rarely seems to be right in these searches, claims that while it varies on a monthly bases, Boston, Buffalo, Oklahoma City, and San Francisco are the windiest, depending on the year.

The website www.city-data.com has a list of the 101 cities with the highest average wind speeds. Great Falls did make the list...at #12 with an average wind speed of 12.5mph. Notice how that is higher than the CurrentResults declaration. Who beat out Great Falls on the list? Let's see...

1. Brockton, MA (14.3mph)
2. Framingham, MA (13.6mph)
3. Amarillo, TX (13.3mph)
4. Weymouth, MA (13.2mph)
5. Fort Collins, CO (12.8mph)
6. Newton, MA (12.7mph)
7. Waltham, MA (12.6mph)
8. Loveland, CO (12.6mph)
9. Quincy, MA (12.5mph)
10. Greeley, CO (12.5mph)
11. Rochester, MN (12.5mph)

This list also tells me that Massachusetts is a very windy state! And while I have been to Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley in my Colorado travels I do not recall any of those cities to be particularly windy.

At Education.Randmcnally.com, while Chicago holds the title of the Windy City. Yet according to their research on the topic, Dodge City, Kansas holds the title of the true windiest city. They attribute their research to a chart from the National Climatic Data Center.

I checked out NCDC myself, at ncdc.noaa.gov myself. They have a chart about all the most extreme climates in the U.S. Here are their results for windiest locations in the United States, along with average wind speeds:

1. Mount Washington, NH (35.1mph)
2. Blue Hill, MA (15.2mph)
3. Dodge City, KS (13.9mph)
4. Amarillo, TX (13.5mph)
5. Cheyenne, WY (12.9mph)
6. Rochester, MN (12.8mph)
7. Casper, WY (12.7mph)
8. Goodland, KS (12.5mph)
9. Great Falls, MT (12.5mph)
10. Boston, MA (12.4mph)

Great Falls made the list! However as you can see it made the list at #9. According to all the above research, Great Falls, while very windy, is not the windiest city in the country.

Now, maybe at one point, Great Falls did hold that claim. Weather patterns can change. I also like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps at one time each source listed above was correct, although I still doubt that Ask.com is all that accurate (one too many times finding incorrect information on that site). And as one site even sources NCDC, who is one of the experts in this field, what they got at the time was probably right. Dodge City still ranks in the top three.

So...Snapple...Get your facts checked.

Many who know me can attribute that yes, I have been to Great Falls. I attended a rodeo there in January of 2012 with two friends (who, I am proud to say, later married and now have a bouncing baby boy!). But the main reason I have been there was not by choice. Don't panic...this is the shortest version of the story I will probably ever give.

In January 2009 I was in a sledding accident and rushed to the hospital in Helena where I attended college. Discovering that my back was broken, the staff knew they could not care for me, and so sent me north to Great Falls for better treatment. I was there for eight days in recovery and occupational therapy. So my big experience of Great Falls is not exactly one of pleasant memories. Technically, I didn't even see the city. I was brought in at midnight and while my room had a window it faced another part of the building. So I saw nothing until I left in my parents' rental car and that was brief at best. The rodeo experience was much better, although I still would never know my way around that place.

Great Falls is indeed windy, and a place worth checking out if you ever find yourself in that part of Montana. There are lots of sights around the town, including several waterfalls. But it does not hold the record of the windiest city in the country at this time. Sorry, Great Falls...looks like your claim to fame will need to come from someplace else!