What is Wind Chill...and Why Do We Care?

Have you ever hopped out of the shower and walked in front of a fan? It’s not very fun. In fact, it’s awful. I’d highly recommend avoiding it.

There’s a reason for this: the wind created by the fan blows away the warm air right next to our skin, causing us to cool off faster than normal. It’s good when you’re hot and want to cool off. It’s not good when you’ve just stepped out of a hot, steamy shower into a cold room.

The “wind chill effect” attempts to capture this phenomenon. It was developed in the 1940s by scientists in Antarctica and tries to guess how quickly a person will lose heat, which is a pretty important metric for scientists in Antarctica (I’d imagine).

However, wind chill is not a perfect measurement, even though scientists and meteorologists have tried to improve the formulas in the last 80 years. For one, the wind chill factor makes several assumptions that don’t always make sense for everyday use. It assumes the wind is always blowing, you have bare skin exposed, and that you’re always a 5’6” heavyset male. If those do not apply to you, the measure may not be completely accurate.

In fact, a lot of people don’t use wind chill anymore. Some weather services and scientists have developed their own metrics. The Universal Thermal Climate Index, for example, includes information about what you should be wearing in that weather, which is far more useful than just a number.

What does that mean for us? When you’re figuring out what to wear in the morning, consider lots of values, like temperature, wind speed, and humidity. Or, just stay inside where it’s always a nice, comfy 68 degrees.

Sources:

https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/news/wind-chill-feels-like-temperature-winter-explainer

https://www.vox.com/2016/1/19/10788306/wind-chill-meaning