Read the passage.

excerpt from "A Ghost Story" in Sketches New and Old by Mark Twain

I was glad enough when I reached my room and locked out the mold and the darkness. A cheery fire was burning in the grate, and I sat down before it with a comforting sense of relief. For two hours I sat there, thinking of bygone times; recalling old scenes, and summoning half-forgotten faces out of the mists of the past; listening, in fancy, to voices that long ago grew silent for all time, and to once familiar songs that nobody sings now. And as my reverie softened down to a sadder and sadder pathos, the shrieking of the winds outside softened to a wail, the angry beating of the rain against the panes diminished to a tranquil patter, and one by one the noises in the street subsided, until the hurrying footsteps of the last belated straggler died away in the distance and left no sound behind.

Which word is closest in meaning to shrieking as it is used in this sentence?

And as my reverie softened down to a sadder and sadder pathos, the shrieking of the winds outside softened to a wail, the angry beating of the rain against the panes diminished to a tranquil patter, and one by one the noises in the street subsided, until the hurrying footsteps of the last belated straggler died away in the distance and left no sound behind.

scolding

whining

screeching

yelling

The use of the word 'shrieking' in the passage shows the loud, intensifying nature of the howling/ noise of the wind. The speaker uses this word to show the intensity of the noise, but not in a really fearful manner, more like a little subtle. Scolding is a forceful nature, giving it a negative connotation.

Whining is a high pitched sounding noise/ cry.

Yelling makes it seems so forceful, and an angry tone.

But, with the use of "screeching", the wind is seen as producing a loud piercing cry that reverberates to the narrator. A shriek and screech are the nearest in their representation of the sound.