Topical Guide 453
Mark Dorset
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.
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.”
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