Based on the hourly maximum wind speed data of Shanghai automatic stations and real-time gale disaster data provided by Shanghai Emergency Response Coordination Center from 2008 to 2019,?characteristics of spatiotemporal distributions and correlations between urban gales and disasters are analyzed in order to explore the impacts of strong winds in Shanghai. The results are as follows: (1) The gales and disasters present significant seasonal variations with force 8 gale days, maximum wind speeds, and disasters all exhibiting a summer single peak pattern. Summer gale days account for 41% of the year, and gale disasters account for over 80% of the year. The inter-annual fluctuations of disasters are significant, mainly influenced by extreme weathers. (2)The gales and disasters show significant differences between urban and suburban areas: Ⅰ) Wind speeds in downtown areas are much lower due to the impact of urbanization. Ⅱ) The density of disaster cases ranks the highest in central city (up to 37 cases/km2) and relatively high in regional centers and sub-centers. It is also found that the number of disasters in each region is positively correlated with its population and GDP. III) The housing related damages are relatively prominent in downtown and its surrounding regions, but the least significant in Chongming District. (3) The disastrous gale weather in Shanghai can be divided into four categories: Jiang-huai cyclone gales, thunderstorm gales, tropical cyclone gales and cold air gales, with thunderstorm gales the most frequent and tropical cyclone gales the most severe. (4) Trees and vehicles are the most common disaster-bearing bodies of strong wind disasters in Shanghai, followed by power lines and rain shelters. Gales cause disasters with obvious chain reactions. The study on the characteristics and impacts of urban gales are of great significance for the gale risk warning development and disaster prevention and mitigation.