This week 15 years ago, scientists took a big step in understanding some of the driving forces of everyday weather on earth by heading into space. A satellite launched from the space shuttle Discovery identified huge windstorms in the upper atmosphere, some clocked at up to 200 miles an hour, flowing in masses 6,000 miles wide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Not to be outdone, the highest wind gust ever recorded on the earth’s surface gusted at an amazing 231 miles an hour. That was in April, 1934, at the peak of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, making those “This Car Climbed Mount Washington” bumper stickers sound significantly more impressive.

Among U.S. cities, the highest annual average winds are not, as you might expect, in Chicago, but in Cheyenne, Wyoming, at almost 13 miles an hour, the Census Bureau affirms.

Find out what else happened on this day in history.