Windy City

The city of Chicago has been known by many nicknames, but it is most widely recognized as the "Windy City". The earliest known reference to the "Windy City" was actually to Green Bay in 1856. The first known repeated effort to label Chicago with this nickname is from 1876 and involves Chicago's rivalry with Cincinnati. The popularity of the nickname endures to this day, more than a century after the Cincinnati rivalry ended. Etymology There are four main possibilities to explain the city's nickname: the weather, as Chicago is near Lake Michigan; the rivalry with Cincinnati; the World's Fair; and politics. Weather While Chicago is widely known as the "Windy City", it is not the windiest city in the United States. Some of the windier cities recorded by the NOAA/NCDC are Dodge City, Kansas, at 13.9 mph (22.3 km/h); Amarillo, Texas, at 13.5 mph (21.7 km/h); and Lubbock, Texas, at 12.4 mph (20 km/h). Chicago is not significantly windier than any other U.S. city. For example, the average annual wind speed of Chicago is ; Boston: ; Central Park, New York City: ; and Los Angeles: .