<p>Sam, those who bestowed the moniker of “Windy City” on Chicago weren’t thinking of the weather. They were thinking of the overblown windbags running the city (i.e., politicians). At the time, Chicago politics were notorious. Along the lines of “vote early and often”.</p>
<p>my third link talks about the origin actually. but even though many northwestern students and chicagoans are aware of it, many of them probably think the nickname describes the city well anyway and don’t know cities like boston and new york are actually more windy.</p>
<p>The average wind speed does not account for extremes. Chicago has more extreme winds than Boston, like 40-50 mph sometimes, but its average may just not be higher because the wind dies down a lot.</p>
<p>Thank God. My teacher who went to UChicago was like, “Why are all your schools in cold places?” But she assured me that as an NYC resident for all my life, all I needed was a longer jacket and a cute hat (I avoid wearing hats to avoid hat hair). But then again, there’s the lake on campus.</p>