Can High-Rise Windows Shatter During a Typhoon? A Guide to Wind-Pressure Ratings and Securing Windows

Why Can a Typhoon Blow Out or "Suck Away" Thick Tempered Glass?

Typhoons destroy doors and windows in high-rise buildings through more than just the direct force of the wind. There are three deadly physical effects:

• Wind-speed increase with altitude: Buildings shelter the surface, but above the 20th floor (about 60 meters), there are no obstructions. Actual wind speeds are often 2–3 wind-force levels higher than those reported by ground-level weather stations (a force-12 wind at ground level may expose a building on the 30th floor to force-14 or force-15 winds).
• Bernoulli effect (negative pressure): When high-speed air flows past the sides and leeward face of a building, outdoor air pressure drops sharply. The normal indoor pressure can then act like a hydraulic jack and "suck" the window outward.
• Cross-ventilation pressure buildup (especially dangerous!): If a small window on the windward side is not fully closed, powerful winds rush inside with no outlet. Indoor pressure can spike instantly, potentially bursting an entire floor-to-ceiling window on the opposite side like a balloon.

Does Applying Tape in a "Rice-Character" Pattern Actually Help?

• The truth: Ordinary transparent stationery tape is useless. Applying wide fabric tape (strong waterproof tape) or a professional shatter-resistant film in a diagonal "rice-character" pattern cannot turn ordinary glass into bulletproof glass, but it can alter the vibration frequency of the glass's center. Most importantly, if the glass breaks, the tape can hold the fragments together and prevent shards from flying out like shrapnel and injuring people.

What Should You Do If Windows Bend Severely and Creak During a Typhoon?

• Strictly prohibited: Never brace the glass with your body or hands, and never try to open a window and then close it again at the height of the storm! If strong winds rush in and create cross-ventilation, the entire apartment's doors and windows may fail, and a person could even be sucked out through a window by negative pressure.

• Proper self-protection: Immediately leave the living room and any room with large floor-to-ceiling windows. Close and latch the bedroom, hallway, and bathroom doors behind you (using multiple interior doors to block cross-ventilation pathways), and have the entire family retreat to a bathroom, hallway, or walk-in closet without exterior windows until the typhoon's eyewall and its strongest winds have passed.