Windiest cities in the world

The short answer: Wellington, New Zealand is the windiest major city we measured, averaging 15 mph year-round — followed by a string of UK coastal towns.

Statistics

These rankings come from a 3-year archive of monthly wind averages for 325 cities (source: Open-Meteo). Every number is computable from the same public data on our statistics hub.

The windiest cities on earth

• Wellington, New Zealand — 15.3 mph average. The famous "Roaring Forties" make Wellington the windiest city on our list by a wide margin. Blustery, but genuinely flyable year-round.
• Skegness, UK — 12.2 mph. The flat Lincolnshire coast is reliably windy — and with 177 kite-flying days a year, it's one of the best UK kite spots we measured.
• Dover, UK — 11.7 mph. The white cliffs funnel the Channel wind; steady, coastal and predictable.
• Hastings, UK — 11.3 mph. South-coast sea breeze, 149 good days a year.
• Brighton, UK — 11.1 mph. Famous seafront wind, 139 good days a year.
• Aberdeen, UK — 11.1 mph. North Sea gusts, strong spring winds.
• Plymouth, UK — 10.6 mph. Channel Atlantic exposure, big spring and autumn winds.
• Bournemouth, UK — 10.5 mph. Dorset coast, very kite-friendly.
• Blackpool, UK — 10.4 mph. The classic windy seaside town.
• Edinburgh, UK — 10.2 mph. Firth of Forth exposure, good spring winds.

Windy isn't the same as kite-friendly

Being windy on average is not the same as being good for kites. The most useful metric for a flier is good flying days per year — days with wind in the 8–25 mph sweet spot, low rain and comfortable temperatures. By that measure the winners are different:

• Aden, Yemen — 207 good days a year. Consistent trade wind, dry, and rarely too gusty.
• Kuwait City — 182. Steady, strong summer winds and almost no rain.
• Honolulu, USA — 178. The classic trade-wind city: reliable, warm and gentle.
• Skegness, UK — 177. The UK's most kite-friendly coast by our data.
• Manama, Bahrain — 165. Year-round steady wind.
• Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — 157. Strong, dry and predictable.

The calmest cities (avoid for kites)

At the bottom end, a handful of cities average under 3 mph and effectively never have a good flying day: Innsbruck, Chiang Mai, Kathmandu, Turin and Queenstown all sit in sheltered valleys or basins where wind barely moves.

What about the famous "windy" cities?

Chicago is famously "the Windy City" — in our data it averages around 9 mph, windier than most US cities but well behind the UK coast. St John's, Cape Town and Tarifa are all genuinely windy, but Tarifa's famous Levante is often too strong for single-line kites (it's a kitesurfing mecca for a reason).

Curious about your city? Browse the wind forecast for every location, or see the full statistics hub.