Are conditions in Illinois as icy and cold as we imagine them to be and is this frozen perception fiction or fact? ANOTHER VERSION: While the Charles Dana version of the birth of "Windy City" is generally accepted, a New York resident and word sleuth named Barry Popik has put some time into researching the true origins of the phrase.

It wasn't because of the winds blowing of the lake. Have you noticed that it's a lot colder in the Chicago?

Wikibuy Review: A Free Tool That Saves You Time and Money, 15 Creative Ways to Save Money That Actually Work. And if you think that was just a fluke, on March 1, 2015, the Chicago Tribune reported the temperature at the O’Hare Airport smashed a record of zero degrees set back in 1875. Was it because of the weather? AND ONE MORE: The following "windy city" explanation is from the Freeborn County Standard of Albert Lea, Minnesota, on November 20, 1892: Chicago has been called the “windy” city, the term being used metaphorically to make out that Chicagoans were braggarts. The city is losing this reputation, for the reason that as people got used to it they found most of her claims to be backed up by facts.

After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Chicago was rebuilt on a grid plan of straight streets going north-south and east-west. As residents of such cities know, this can create a “wind tunnel” effect, especially for winter winds coming off Lake Michigan, which forms the city’s eastern border. Back in the late 1890’s Chicago was competing with New York City for who would host the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (also known as the World’s Fair). The main possibility to explain the city's longstanding nickname is, of course, the weather. Why is Chicago called the windy city The origin of the “Windy City” as the title of Chicago is thought to reside in many areas, some of which have become so popular amongst even official news reporters that popular myth has nearly become the most widely recognized origin. In 1876, an article in The Cincinnati Enquirer about a tornado in Chicago used “windy city” in its headline, believed to be the first documented use of the name. He wasn’t referring to the chilly gusts that come off Lake Michigan, but rather condemning the area politicians that he claimed were full of hot air about what the city could handle. This is especially true during the Holidays, where it might be thirty degrees in a nearby area, but closer to ten degrees when you arrive downtown. Well, when the nickname came to be, the “Windy City” wasn’t describing the weather but the people. Oddly, both cities competed for the nickname “Porkopolis,” which Cincinnati eventually won. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. (Don’t worry, not that kind of wind.)

As residents of such cities know, this can create a “wind tunnel” effect, especially for winter winds coming off Lake Michigan, which forms the city’s eastern border.