Wind

I know I complain about the weather. And I know I'm inconsistent about it. One day I'll be complaining about how miserably cold it is, and then like clockwork, I'll be complaining about how hot it is six months later. As Darrell has reminded me on more than one occasion, I have a very narrow window for "comfort" when it comes to weather.

However, I've officially decided that I have a new nemesis when it comes to weather. Forget the frigid cold, forget the oppressive heat--what I hate most is the wind. I'm not talking about the nice, gentle summer breezes, or the sizable gusts that inevitably accompany a strong storm--I'm talking about the annoying, steady, 15+ mph winds that will last for days on end. The kind of wind that will pierce through even the warmest "wind-proof" winter jacket, or ruin a perfectly nice summer day at the lake. It's downright awful.

And the thing that makes the wind in South Dakota even worse? It's incessant. It never goes away. It may be lighter and more bearable on some days, but it's still there. Now, you may be thinking that, in theory, if it's regularly windy, then you would be more likely to get used to it (and subsequently, less likely to complain about it). Well folks, that just isn't the case. I'm here to tell you that there are some things that you just can't "get used to"--and constant wind is one of them (especially when it is strong more days than not).

Think I'm exaggerating about how much wind we get around here? I'm not. Want proof? Check out these graphs of wind data compiled from weather records dating all the way back to 1974 (courtesy of Weatherspark.com):

Average monthly wind speed for Sioux Falls, SD

Average monthly wind speed for Hickory, NC (Darrell's hometown)

Where do I begin? For starters, let's talk about the scale on the y-axis. The graph for Sioux Falls goes all the way up to 30 mph, while Hickory's graph only goes up to 22 mph (and the graph itself barely surpasses 20 mph at any point). Then, do you notice how the Hickory graph doesn't actually have a red line, just small amount of red shading? That color represents the average daily minimum wind speed--which means that in Sioux Falls, every day registers (on average) enough measurable wind to have a daily minimum wind speed (the solid red line), whereas Hickory has enough days with no measurable wind that you have to extend your range to include the 10th-90th percentiles to even see an average daily minimum. Additionally, Hickory's highest daily average wind speed (black line) is 7 mph, which is still 2 mph slower than the lowest daily average wind speed in Sioux Falls.

Bottom line? The wind sucks in Sioux Falls. We need to get ourselves some mountains or something stat.