The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

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Topical Guide 453

peterleroy.substack.com
A Topical Guide to the Personal History

Topical Guide 453

Mark Dorset

Eric Kraft
Mar 17, 2023
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Topical Guide 453

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Weather: Wind

Reservations Recommended, Chapter 2:

The fierce wind, funneled by buildings, makes them hug themselves.

Albertine’s Overcoat, Chapter 26:

     I’ve gone about a block on my way to Peerless, with the TV on the luggage carrier behind me, when I hear a voice calling to me from within the shelter of the recessed entrance to the post office.
     “Oh, please, please, can you help me?”
     I see a woman—a little old woman—huddling there. She is wearing a red hat and clutching a handbag as if it were a life preserver.
     “Of course,” I say. “What do you need?”
   “I’m trying to get across the street, but the wind won’t let me,” she says. “I’m scared of the wind.”
    “It is fierce,” I say. “I think it’s the new buildings. They funnel the wind.”
    “I never thought of that. That might be true.”
    “It’s the Venturi Effect,” I say.
     “It’s scary, that’s what it is,” says the little old lady.

“Wind around tall buildings,” BRE Digest: Concise reviews of building technology

     When the wind blows over groups of low buildings, the main flow skims over the roof tops; ground level pedestrian areas are generally sheltered. If the wind meets a building which is considerably taller than its neighbours, much of it is deflected downwards, carrying the higher speed winds towards ground level - Fig 1. Some of this wind rolls into a horizontal vortex in the space between the tall building and any nearby low buildings to windward. The vortex stretches out sideways and wraps around the tall building in a characteristic horseshoe shape. Accelerated flow closer to the tall building face escapes round the corners of the building and forms two high speed jets of wind which stretch downwind for a considerable distance. […] Figure 4 shows the resulting chief areas in which increased wind speeds occur.

Fig 1 Wind deflected down to ground level by a tall building, revealed using smoke. Wind direction left to right. From “Wind around tall buildings,” BRE Digest: Concise reviews of building technology.
Fig 4 Pedestrian regions with highest wind speeds due to a tall building. From: “Wind around tall buildings,” BRE Digest: Concise reviews of building technology.

Library of Congress, “At the foot of the Flatiron: Windy day at the Flatiron”:

This street level view is of the Broadway side of the Flatiron, or Fuller Building, near the narrow north corner. Filmed on a very windy day, pedestrians of various descriptions are seen passing by the camera, clutching hats and skirts against the wind. According to some New York City historians, this corner was known as the windiest corner of the city, and in the era of the long skirt, standing on it was considered a good vantage point for a glimpse of a lady’s ankle. Policemen would chase away such loungers from the 23rd Street corner, giving rise to the expression “twenty-three skidoo.”

Have you missed an episode or two or several?

  • You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide.

  • You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed.

  • You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.

  • You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)

  • At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies and Herb ’n’ Lorna.

  • You’ll find overviews of the entire work in  An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document) and at Encyclopedia.com.

The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK
The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.
www.erickraft.com
www.babbingtonpress.com

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Topical Guide 453

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