Seventy-three breezy days per year put Gqeberha five ahead of Cape Town in the official race to be South Africa’s windiest city.
For context, wind that causes large tree branches to move and makes it difficult to keep umbrellas under control is classified as a “fresh breeze” by the Beaufort scale, the empirical measure that relates to wind speed.
South African Weather Service records show that the place (not only cities) with the strongest wind in the country is Cape Point in the Western Cape.
That area of the peninsula boasts an average hourly wind speed of 26km/h compared to Gqeberha’s 19km/h. Cape St Francis, an hour’s drive to the west of the Bay, actually tops it by 2km/h.
Long-time local Remax estate agent Alan Moore said there was much more to windy places than met the eye.
“The bigger picture shouldn’t be ignored. It is worth keeping in mind that PE more often than not features on lists of places with the best or most moderate climate in the world.”
One worldwide study, in which data had been curated over a five-year period, found that Gqeberha was the municipality with the third most “pleasant days” per calendar year.
While the city’s aliases bounce between the Windy and Friendly City, it is arguably residents themselves who extoll its friendly nature, Moore said.
“Outsiders are more inclined to associate it with howling gusts.”
In his 20 years in the industry and despite stats pointing to Gqeberha’s moderate climate, Moore has had to field countless questions about the wind from outside buyers.
The real question, he argued, was whether the wind should be placed in the “good” or “bad” column when looked at purely from a residential point of view.
From a comfort-level perspective, Moore said wind played a huge role as a coolant.
“In the interior, there is simply nowhere to hide from the heat save for an air-conditioned enclosure. If the temperature rises in Gqeberha, it is only a matter of time before the wind cool things down.”
With research showing that it can help with stress relief and chest ailments, Moore felt the health benefits outweighed the odd unpleasant breeze.
The Dutch have even coined a term for the former – uitwaaien. The belief is that bad air is replaced by good air when walking or running into the wind, with destressing of the individual the net result.
English psychologist Kezia Luckett agreed when she told Women’s Health magazine that wind created a “fast-moving landscape of trees, grass, clouds and leaves” felt by the body.
“I feel being out in the breeze can change your emotional state from feeling quite heavy and cumbersome to feeling light and liberated instead.”
In terms of breathing problems and related issues caused by smog, wind comes in handy to disperse pollutants in the air.
Delhi, for example, is one of the most polluted cities on the planet and its residents suffer when there is little to no wind. When wind blows at 15km/h or faster, pollutants are cleared from the air.
Research published in the Economic Times of India shows that when the wind blows at 35km/h or more in Delhi, the Air Quality Index is brought down from 458 (severe) to 215 (poor) in less than two days.
The website shows that the PM2.5 (pollution from fine particulates) concentration in Gqeberha currently meets the WHO annual air quality guideline value.
Not so Johannesburg, where the PM2.5 concentration is 2.2 times the WHO standard.
Add to that the fact that Gqeberha’s fresh breeze is heaven for lovers of water sports and the wind suddenly does not seem so unfriendly.
“Instead of shying away from the topic, should we not be wearing the Windy City badge with pride?” Moore asked.