This Just In: South Dakota’s Wind Cave Is Windy

Sometimes a name can be deceiving, sometimes it's spot on.

In the case of South Dakota's Wind Cave National Park, the name says it all.

In their story 'Going Deep: Explore the Most Amazing Caves in the U.S.' on the website The Manual, authors Mike Richard and Andrew Davey came up with their own accolades for seven caves from various parts of the country, everything from the biggest to the wettest to the most batty.

Get our free mobile app

So in which category did Wind Cave National Park come out on top?

The Windiest.

Duh.

According to the National Park Service, the cave averages wind speeds of 15 miles per hour. The windiest month is January (16.5 mph), while the calmest month is August (12.6 mph).

Wind Cave was just the seventh national park and the first cave to be designated as a national park when it was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903.

It's located 10 miles north of Hot Springs, South Dakota, and is the densest cave system in the world, with the greatest passage volume per cubic mile. Wind Cave is the seventh longest cave in the world with 154.2 miles of explored cave passageways and the third-longest cave in the United States.

OTHER AMAZING CAVES IN THE U.S.

• The Biggest: Mammoth Cave, Mammoth National Park, Kentucky
• The Most Musical: Luray Caverns, Luray, Virginia
• The Most Vertical: Moaning Cavern, Vallecito, California
• The Most Batty: Carlsbad Caverns, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
• The Most Adventurous: Natural Bridge Caverns, San Antonio, Texas
• The Wettest: Craighead Caverns, Sweetwater, Tennessee
• The Laziest: Fantastic Caverns, Springfield, Missouri