Howling noise 97 Taurus wagon and transmission problem

Hi All,
I would appreciate any thoughts on two problems with my 97 Taurus wagon GL, 3.0L, 127k miles:
1. Transmission will not shift 1->2 when cold. May through September in NY area is fine, the rest of the time, like now, it will take a minute driving on first until shifts to second then it's OK. Also it will slip and shift abruptly if I try to hit on the gas while stopped or moving slowly. Bought it used, most liekly never had transmission fluid replaced.
2. There is a howling noise (like a wind tunnel) at 35+-5 mi/hr and then again at 70. It makes no difference whether the transmission is engaged or not, or whether I apply the brakes or not, it just appears to be strictly speed related. Not clear where it comes from. Thanks in advance.

for the first thing, most likely your tranny is shot. All taurus's around that mileage lose the tranny i dont care how good you take care of it, i have never heard of a tranny lasting more than 150,000 miles, average is about 120,000. So bring it to your local tranny shop and get that replaced or rebuilt. For your other problem, where is the noise coming from, the engine area, the windows, the doors? i couldnt even begin to guess on what could be wrong with it