Good Question: Has it been windier in Rochester?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — A viewer sent News10NBC’s Brennan Somers this Good Question: Has it been windier in the region in the last year? It seems like we are always in a wind tunnel at all times of the day.

To get that answer, Somers went right to our own experts. The First Alert weather team and meteorologist Alex Bielfeld looked into the trends going back decades.

Bielfeld checked the Iowa State Environmental Mesonet website and downloaded daily average wind for each month from 1981 to 2020. He then plotted the average monthly wind for each month to see if there has been an increase or decrease in winds per month.

He found out that every month has seen a decrease in average daily wind over the past 40 years, except for one.

The only month where Rochester is seeing an increase in average daily wind is February.

But does that mean we are seeing a drop in high wind events overall? That answer is no.

Bielfeld checked with the National Centers for Environmental Information. From 1981 to 2010, Monroe County saw 21 days classified as high wind events compared to the 53 days between 1991 to 2020.

More than half happened in the last decade. Of note, high winds caused by severe thunderstorms are not classified as high wind events.

This study classifies high wind events as days that had sustained winds of 30 knots or higher.

_____

Watch previous Good Question segments here. If you have a question you’d like answered, email GoodQuestion@whec.com.