The Burrow
Jan 8, 2024
It doesn’t matter what city in the world you live in, it’s safe to say everyone’s experienced their fair share of stormy weather. But while it can be comforting to be sat safely in your home while watching the snow or rain swirl past the window, a heavy windstorm can be more than a little off-putting.
Sadly, harsh weather like this only seems to be becoming more common as time goes on, particularly due to the effects of climate change, and tall city layouts creating unforeseen wind tunnelling effects.
Many experts are already predicting that changing wind patterns could lead to wider temperature fluctuations throughout the year. And more sudden temperature changes mean worse weather overall, which makes getting the right home insurance even more important.
As experts in home and contents insurance, we wanted to lend a hand with this. We took a look at a variety of weather forecast data to see just which cities around the world are home to the wildest wind speeds before ranking them accordingly, so you can see whether or not you’re potentially at risk from windy weather in the future.
Coming in at number one, with an overall average wind speed of 22.7 mph, was Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.
Thanks in large part to its coastal location and exposure to a consistent westerly wind, residents of Wellington likely already know how stormy the weather can get over the year, but high points include January and February, with both months seeing a powerful average wind speed of 22.65 mph.
Following on from Wellington we have Rio Gallegos, the largest city in the Argentinian province of Patagonia. Here, residents can experience an average wind speed of 21.1 mph over the course of the year.
Of course, that’s not to say Rio Gallegos is windy all the time. As our data shows, May, June, and July are fairly quiet months, with winds reaching just 12.661 mph on average. However, care should be taken in January, where the average windspeeds can reach as high as 25.67 mph – the highest average monthly windspeed recorded on our list!
Moving to the third windiest city, residents of St Johns, Canada, likely get a similar wind experience to those living in Rio Gallego, experiencing the same average wind speed of 21.1 mph.
The windspeeds around St Johns are fairly consistent around the year, sitting between 13.812 mph in the summer before rising to 17.265 mph by winter. But the one month to watch out for is February. Here winds can reach a speed of 25.67 mph, matching the average January wind speeds found in Rio Gallego.
In fourth place is Baku, Azerbaijan. Sat right on Azerbaijan’s peninsular, Baku is perfectly positioned to experience consistently windy weather throughout the year.
Like our other top five cities, both January and February continue to be the windiest months for the city, with winds reaching an average of 16.61 and 18.12 mph respectively, which is just higher than the average overall windspeed for the city, which sits at 18.1 mph.
Finally, for our fifth windiest city, we land on Dodge City in Kansas, USA. Famed for its Wild West history, Dodge City also has a well-earned reputation for windy weather, as shown by its average windspeed of 18.1 mph, putting it on par with Baku.
Interestingly, while February is certainly a windy month for Dodge City, with winds reaching an average of 19.63 mph, residents also get to experience consistently low windspeeds from August to December, where they range from lows of just 11.51 to 13.812 mph.
So, we know which cities in the world see the highest average windspeeds, but what about the biggest gusts? Well, rather surprisingly, not only did the top two cities in this category not appear in our top five, or even the top 10 for overall windspeeds, but they also drew for gust speeds overall!
Both Split and Dubrovnik are cities located in the stunning European nation of Croatia, sitting 15th and 25th on our list respectively for average wind speeds. And yet, despite this, average wind gusts in both these cities can reach a staggering 58.89 mph!
This is in large part due to their position as coastal cities, which exposes them to sudden pressure and temperature differences, hence their seemingly wild wind shifts when the weather turns.
As for the third city with the highest wind gusts, we return once again to Rio Gallegos, where winds can whip up to speeds of 55.87 mph. As a result, rain and snowstorms can be very hectic in this area, especially once winter sets.
And as for our fourth gustiest city, we once again have Wellington, New Zealand. Wellington is no stranger to both flooding and extreme weather, with tornadoes becoming increasingly common in the area. And with an average gust speed of 51.34 mph, it’s not hard to see why.
Finally, for our fifth city with the highest wind gusts, we again have Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Here, wind gusts can also reach an average speed of 51.34 mph, thanks to continual cold winds that blow across from the Caspian Sea.
Even though some cities are certainly windier than others, that’s not to say that quieter locations aren’t buffeted by extreme weather every now and then. In fact, if climate change continues at its current rate, then such extreme weather might become more commonplace all over the world.
Fortunately, there is plenty you can do to protect your home from bad weather if you know it’s on the way:
Even though you try your best to maintain your home, weather is unpredictable and can still cause a range of issues – which is why getting the right home insurance is so important.
Adrian Taylor, General Manager of General Insurance at Compare the Market points out that: “Getting your home covered with the right insurance, especially if you live in an exceptionally windy place prone to bad weather, is very important – even if you’ve never experienced any form of storm damage before.
“At the end of the day, you simply can’t predict what sort of damage even a light storm might do to your home, and anyone living in the cities we’ve highlighted likely knows just how unpredictable bad weather can be. Having an appropriate home and contents insurance policy in place can go a long way towards giving you the peace of mind you need, should the worst happen, by covering the cost of repairs.”
So, if you want to compare your options for difference levels of cover on your home, be sure to take a look at Compare the Market’s range of available home and contents insurance policies.
Ensure you look through the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Target Market Determination (TMD) before purchasing so that you understand the cover provided by each individual policy.
A list of global cities was collated to be analysed. The figures were taken from the nearest weather station for each city according to windfinder.com. The average wind speed in knots per second (KPS) was then converted to miles per hour (MPH) for each city on the list. These were then ranked accordingly based on the highest wind speed.
The average wind speed for each month was also collated to determine the windiest month for each city on the list, as well as the average wind gusts per city.
Average wind speeds and gusts (Knots Per Second) – https://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/