franglish Aug 14, 2009:

@Andrea One explanation for Chicago being a naturally breezy area is that it is on the shores of Lake Michigan. Another contributing factor is how the city was rebuilt after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871; because the city planners modeled the new streets on the grid system, it resulted in man-made wind tunnels in high density areas, such as the Chicago Loop, where the wind could travel down the columns and rows formed by the buildings, picking up speed. However, regardless of these facts, Chicago is not noted to be significantly windier than any other U.S. city. For example, the average annual wind speed of Chicago is: 10.3 mph (16.6 km/h); Boston: 12.4 mph (20.0 km/h); New York City, Central Park: 9.3 mph (15.0 km/h); and Los Angeles: 7.5 mph (12.1 km/h).[1]

The following "windy city" explanation is from the Freeborn County Standard of Albert Lea, Minnesota, on November 20, 1892[2]:

“ Chicago has been called the “windy” city, the term being used metaphorically to make out that Chicagoans were braggarts. The city is losing this reputation, for the reason that as people got acquainted with it they found most of her claims to be backed up by facts. As usual, people go to extremes

Andrea Hauer Aug 14, 2009:

@franglish ... Was stimmt (ich kenne Chicago nicht) ...? Ich habe folgendes gefunden, dann müsste man mit dem Wind aufpassen:
Der Name "Windy City" kommt nicht daher das es in der Stadt immer so sehr windet sondern davon, dass ein Redakteur der Zeitung New York Sun die Stadt so nannte aufgrund der windigen Politiker in der Zeit um 1858.

franglish Aug 14, 2009:

@Ursula Chicago ist bekannt als "the windy city" weil der Wind vom Norden über lake Michigan fegt. Der Wind spielt also eine grosse Rolle.