The evaluation of windy environments

New data is presented for the effects of wind on pedestrians. Documentary sources are described, together with the results of a questionnaire survey and some direct observations in a city street.

A standard wind environment is defined and used to obtain a consistent correlation between mean windspeed and all the associated wind effects reported to date. This suggests a simple method of assessing discomfort in a given wind environment, by combining the mean and fluctuating components of velocity into a single standard equivalent windspeed.