Comparing Sioux Falls to Other Windy Cities

by Angela Schilling, Meteorologist
January 28, 2012 9:10 PM


To some it wouldn’t be South Dakota without the wind.  We’ve always heard Chicago, as the windy city so I did some research, and you’ll find Sioux Falls is just as windy.  Dodge City, Kansas is also known for it’s windy conditions.  Windy conditions thrive off of a difference in temperature, which is why wind speeds typically increase out ahead of a cold front or sometimes behind it.  The plains are a great place to get strong winds, especially when a mid latitude cyclone rolls through.  The image to your left is from Friday where we saw sustained winds anywhere between 20 and 35 miles per hour, with wind gusts upwards of 50.
The images below are from 2011 and show the average sustained wind speed for each month, by comparing Sioux Falls to Chicago.  Based on last year alone, Sioux Falls beat out Chicago "The Windy City" quite a few times.





The following images compare Sioux Falls to Dodge City Kansas with peak wind gusts from the year 2011. 





Wind direction can play a huge role in temperature as well.  Northwesterly winds are usually associated with colder air, while southeasterly flow can usher in a warmer air mass.  This weekend our winds have been coming out of the northwest, but next week we’ll get more of a southerly flow, especially on Monday, which means temperatures will be on the rise…stay tuned to KDLT and KDLT.com for further updates.