(WKBW-TV) BUFFALO, NY — We’ve certainly been doing a lot of shivering in Western New York this winter, which means you’ve heard the wind chill temperature mentioned often, but do you know just how it is calculated?.
As wind speed increases, it removes heat from the body faster. This applies to both people and animals alike. With little to no wind, a layer of heat at the skin’s surface helps us to stay warmer. However, when it’s windy, the moving air breaks up that insulating warm layer. This helps to speed up heat loss, making it feel a lot colder. Just 20 mph of wind can make it feel more than 10 degrees colder than what the thermometer reads.
The United States and Canada share a wind chill chart that was put together by a collective of scientists in the early 2000s by running a model of skin temperature when faced with various air temperatures and wind speeds. It assumes that you’re walking into the wind at a normal speed and that you’re bare-faced. The equation is complicated, which is why there is a chart to make it easy to figure out how cold it feels!
