Abstract: Based on the daily maximum wind speed (10-minute mean) data of 397 stations in China, the climatological characters and the linear trends of windy days over category 5 were analyzed during 1975-2005. The results show that winds over category 5 occurred in most of northern China and in some local areas and the narrow coastal zone of southern China. The windy days were the most in spring, the next in summer, and the least in autumn. The ratio of annual windy days for category 5 to the total number of windy days over category 5 was greater in southern China than in northern China, but the opposite was true for the ratio of category 6. The windy days over category 5 generally showed linear decreasing trends during the past 30 years, and the decreasing trend was more remarkable in spring than in other seasons. The linear deceasing trend for category 5 was more distinctive than that for the other categories.

Key words: windy days, climatological characters, spatial distribution, trend