# This is normal, right? (wind, hi-rise buildings) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575 "2009-02-12T19:03:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575/21 "2009-02-12T21:40:29Z")
We had a guy promoted from the office I’m in right now out to our downtown Chicago location who had to come back and lose his promotion because he was having panic attacks every time the wind blew a bit and the building would move. Seriously. It was one of those things that was funny at first, but then once you thought about this guy being in sheer, screaming, hugging the floor terror you kind of had to feel bad for him. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575/22 "2009-02-12T23:50:03Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > In hunting around for “skyscrapers” and “wind” I found [this.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7472722.stm) Enjoy, and try not to barf at the thought. Wow. That is really incredible. And terrifying. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575/23 "2009-02-12T23:58:58Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > In hunting around for “skyscrapers” and “wind” I found [this.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7472722.stm) Enjoy, and try not to barf at the thought. Anyone know if this is still planned? All the news articles I found at a glance were all dated June/July 2008. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575/24 "2009-02-13T00:06:03Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I work on the 21st floor of a tall building in Midtown Manattan. I’m not used to being in tall buildings or spending the majority of my time in them. It is HELLA windy today. The entire building is creaking and I can feel the earth move underneath me. Please explain to me, in rational and calm detail, preferably with architectural schematics and links to peer-reviewed literature, that I am not going to die. The Sears Tower in Chicago was built to sway up to 2 feet in high winds. It’s been doing it for decades. They have lost a few windows out of it over the years, but they have that fixed now. No problem. Skyscrapers do sway in the wind, some more than others, but as far as I know none of them have fallen down due to high winds. It takes some getting used to, but after awhile you’ll hardly notice. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575/25 "2009-02-13T00:18:13Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] We had a guy promoted from the office I’m in right now out to our downtown Chicago location who had to come back and lose his promotion because he was having panic attacks every time the wind blew a bit and the building would move. Seriously. It was one of those things that was funny at first, but then once you thought about this guy being in sheer, screaming, hugging the floor terror you kind of had to feel bad for him. [/QUOTE] At least they didn’t transfer him to the San Francisco office! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575/26 "2009-02-13T00:40:47Z")
I remember in engineering school being shocked to discover that things we take to be solid (like tall buildings or expressway overpass bridges) are designed to move. If they did not move, they would break. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575/27 "2009-02-13T04:24:40Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > Whitecaps in the crapper. I know its so past the time when this was popular to do… but… **BAND NAME!** ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575/28 "2009-02-13T08:40:05Z")
I saw the thread title and had to post this. And yes, I know it’s old. Two men are sitting drinking at a bar at the top of the Empire State Building, when the first man turns to the other and says “You know, last week I discovered that if you jump from the top of this building, the winds around the building are so intense that by the time you fall to the 10th floor, they carry you around the building and back into a window”. The bartender just shakes his head in disapproval while wiping the bar. The second guy says, "What, are you nuts? There’s no way that could happen. “No, its true,” the first man says. “Let me prove it to you.” He gets up from the bar, jumps over the balcony, and plummets toward the street below. As he nears the 10th floor, the high winds whip him around the building and back into the 10th floor window and he takes the elevator back up to the bar. He meets the second man, who looks quite astonished. “You know, I saw that with my own eyes, but that must have been a one time fluke.” “No, I’ll prove it again,” says the first man as he jumps again. Just as he is hurtling toward the street, the 10th floor wind gently carries him around the building and into the window. Once upstairs he urges his fellow drinker to try it. “Well, why not.” the second guy says, “It works. I’ll try it.” He jumps over the balcony, plunges downward passes the 11th, 10th 9th, 8th, floors. . . . . and hits the sidewalk with a SPLAT. Back upstairs the bartender turns to the other drinker and says, “You know Superman, you’re a real jerk when you’re drunk”. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575/29 "2009-02-13T16:54:24Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The Sears Tower in Chicago was built to sway up to 2 feet in high winds. It’s been doing it for decades. They have lost a few windows out of it over the years, but they have that fixed now. No problem. > > Skyscrapers do sway in the wind, some more than others, but as far as I know none of them have fallen down due to high winds. It takes some getting used to, but after awhile you’ll hardly notice. When I first started in the property management world, the building I was working in was 222 W. Adams, an old 16 story building that sits where part of the AT & T Center was built on the block of Franklin kitty-corner from Sears. One very windy day, probably 1988-89, big ass hunks of glass started raining on the street, followed by papers, desk lamps…anything small enough to get sucked out of a broken window. For most of a day, every so often, you’d hear a crack, followed by more glass and debris. I still have some pieces I kept as souvenirs, it’s pretty thick stuff, and has a dark blue-grey tint to it. The next day our custodians picked up enough of it off of our roof to fill a few big plastic pails. Bu that wasn’t nearly as interesting as the stuff that fell off of the AT & T building when it was under construction: 4x8 sheets of plywood, and one time a 4x4 slab of the stone facade came loose from a crane and went straight through the trunk of a car sitting in the drive up window line for the Harris Bank across Franklin Street. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-normal-right-wind-hi-rise-buildings/485575.md?page=1)