# Take your wind chill and blow it out your ass **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 7, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126 "2014-01-07T12:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/21 "2014-01-07T16:43:19Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Now in weather like this (in Chicago) - fuck it, I’m not leaving the building except to go home, unless I have to, so I would wear a coat. But in normal cold winter weather for that short of a walk? Forget it. You live in Chicago and have a commute that takes you from car to building in seconds? You are very lucky. I live here without having a car, and I know a lot of people who don’t have cars. I know even more people that have trouble finding parking in weather like this, often because of that saving space with a folding chair crap. We need to know what the weather _feels_ like. I don’t care what the thermometer readout says, I need to know how many pairs of socks and long underwear to wear. I don’t even work outside, I just take the bus and train every day like thousands of people here do. I agree that a lot of meteorologists and news casters get too much of a kick out of reporting crazy low temps (or crazy high temps), for bragging rights or just the novelty, but I do appreciate getting an approximation about how it will feel when I wait for the bus. ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/22 "2014-01-07T16:44:27Z")
> [@Mikemike2](#): > > Windchill in Canada used to be calculated in watts. The higher the number, the more you had to take wind into consideration if you were going to be outside. A windchill factor of 2000 and above was dangerous. We all understood it, and nobody breathlessly told me it was -40 outside when it was really -20. Not this prairie boy. I remember when weathercasts said things like, “it’s -23 with a windchill factor of 2300 which means exposed flesh will freeze before you leave the house.” I always wanted them to give the effective temp because 2300 means nothing to me. I prefer the effective temperature method since it is meaningful to me. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/23 "2014-01-07T16:46:26Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I’m on a school board and I had an extensive discussion with our superintendent last night about this very issue. Right now it’s 19 degrees and the roads are clear. But at 6:30 in the morning we were estimating that it would be -7 with a wind chill taking it down to -20. We didn’t want kids waiting in that weather, especially because there would be a good portion insufficiently dressed for the weather. No coats or hats or gloves or all three means frostbite. > Couple that with a discussion about what % of students would show and what it would cost the school in a hit on state points. We made the call to cancel school. What are “state points”? ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/24 "2014-01-07T16:50:29Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > So weather folks, stop fetishizing the goddam wind chill and start putting the actual air temp out there. Thank you, youank you. Something I’ve bitched about for years. The TV weather folks can’t resist reporting the lowest possible numbers they can find and they no longer care what the numbers even mean. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/25 "2014-01-07T16:54:31Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > What are “state points”? It varies from state to state, but state-funded schools get paid based on their daily attendance. The more students actually attending (either literally day to day or over weekly or monthly averages), the higher the funding. Closing for a day means a 0% attendance for that day. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/26 "2014-01-07T17:02:10Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > Thank you, youank you. Something I’ve bitched about for years. The TV weather folks can’t resist reporting the lowest possible numbers they can find and they no longer care what the numbers even mean. Someone on facebook was lamenting that with windchill, it will be “-50 degrees outside” when in actuality it’s actually “50 degrees below freezing” or - 28F. It’s all very stupid. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/27 "2014-01-07T17:07:48Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Wind chill is an indicator but it is by no means accurate. It just ends up being for bragging rights. Wind Chill assumes naked flesh and few people go out into the winter unclothed. Yeah, but that’s true for plain old air temperature too - nobody goes out naked when it’s 20 degrees outside and no wind either, but it’s still 20 degrees out and that will feel like something through your clothes. So wind chill is a crude but accurate reflection of what it feels like. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/28 "2014-01-07T17:08:27Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > So weather folks, stop fetishizing the goddam wind chill and start putting the actual air temp out there. Seems to me, at least on NPR here in Chicago, they _have_ been making a point of stating the actual air temp before mentioning wind chill, so good on them. When the actual temp is -15F like is was yesterday that’s really all I need to know. Single digits or 0F I’ve been through plenty of times, but damn, this negative teens BS is nasty. I suppose it could be worse though. While it is cold, at least it’s a dry cold. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/29 "2014-01-07T17:09:02Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > Someone on facebook was lamenting that with windchill, it will be “-50 degrees outside” when in actuality it’s actually “50 degrees below freezing” or - 28F. It’s all very stupid. I heard someone on the radio saying that it was going to go “below zero” (a week ago) when it was going to go below freezing (32 degrees). I don’t think he was converting to celcius, just a dolt. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/30 "2014-01-07T17:13:22Z")
> [@Alma](#): > > You live in Chicago and have a commute that takes you from car to building in seconds? You are very lucky. I live here without having a car, and I know a lot of people who don’t have cars. I worked in Chicago for nearly a quarter century and I had both sorts of commutes: the sort that requires you to stand on the sidewalk waiting for a bus and/or on a platform waiting for a train and on a good day took an hour and in bad weather multiple hours, and the sort of commute where I walk 20 feet from my front door to my car, my car 20 feet to an enclosed train station, then get off at an underground station that opens directly into my office building and thus never actually have to go outside once I got to the Loop. Yes, you dress very differently for those two commutes. On the other hand, I’ve always been the sort to be crazy prepared. I’d always have extra gloves/hat/clothing in my bag. If there’s one certain thing about this sort of weather, stuff breaks down and you are just not going to arrive at your destination on time. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/31 "2014-01-07T17:13:54Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It varies from state to state, but state-funded schools get paid based on their daily attendance. The more students actually attending (either literally day to day or over weekly or monthly averages), the higher the funding. > > Closing for a day means a 0% attendance for that day. Yes, but you make that up when you tack a day on to the end. In Missouri for full participation credit you need attendance at 90/90. That means; at the end of the year, 90% of your students must be in school 90% of the time to get 10/10 points on the state assessment. If you have school on a day where 20% of your students don’t show, it lowers your overall average and makes it more difficult to achieve your attendance standard. On a day to day basis, we get reimbursed by the state for every student in school for that day based upon a funding formula. 80% attendance for a day means 80% of the funding we’d be entitled to, if we had 100% attendance. If we cancel today and make it up in May we can potentially earn (or save) more money for the district. So student safety is obviously our primary concern, but we can’t ignore the financial ramifications of our decisions either. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/32 "2014-01-07T17:33:54Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Yes, but you make that up when you tack a day on to the end. > > In Missouri for full participation credit you need attendance at 90/90. > That means; at the end of the year, 90% of your students must be in school 90% of the time to get 10/10 points on the state assessment. > If you have school on a day where 20% of your students don’t show, it lowers your overall average and makes it more difficult to achieve your attendance standard. > On a day to day basis, we get reimbursed by the state for every student in school for that day based upon a funding formula. 80% attendance for a day means 80% of the funding we’d be entitled to, if we had 100% attendance. If we cancel today and make it up in May we can potentially earn (or save) more money for the district. > > So student safety is obviously our primary concern, but we can’t ignore the financial ramifications of our decisions either. That’s fucked up and I feel for the school admins who have to deal with this system. Still, those little bastards should have had their asses in school today. And the admins should have been calling the parents who either didn’t send their kid to school or who didn’t ensure they were appropriately dressed. One day with 25% lower attendance doesn’t sound that critical for a school at the end of the year. The fact that we’re teaching kids and parents that colder than normal temperatures are sufficient grounds to stay home is absolutely ridiculous. How do you raise the standards of education (in its various forms) when you keep lowering expectations? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/33 "2014-01-07T17:50:52Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > TV news cannot function without superlatives. Saying it’s 8 degrees is not a superlative and will attract no attention (= eyes for the advertising). Screaming that it’s 'leventy-eight below zero will draw that attention. So [Neil Postman was right?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_ourselves_to_death) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/34 "2014-01-07T17:58:05Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > This OP isn’t a rant about school closings but it is a rant about over-reaction to weather. And in the spirit of over-reacting to weather conditions, the local schoolboard, chose to close all schools today. It’s going to be sunny and 16F today. Currently clear, calm and 4F. The roads are dry and perfectly clear. > > Oh, for fuck sakes you useless fuck-ton of bureaucratic wankers! > > Even my kids are all, WTF?! Why, in my day… I think you know the rest. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/35 "2014-01-07T18:08:28Z")
I can get behind this pitting. My father is an idiot at the best of times, but today he was going on about how cold it was in America, getting the facts wrong in three different ways in one sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/36 "2014-01-07T18:10:09Z")
The way people are going on about the temp here in Chicago makes it seem like the sun is dying or something. It’s ridiculous. Yeah, it’s cold. That’s it. I also am fed up with these “feels like” reports. It goes down to -30 or lower where I grew up. IMO, an actual temp of -15 with a “feels like” of -35 isn’t anywhere near what -35 actually feels like. An actual air temp of -35 almost hurts the lungs - it’s a different animal entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/37 "2014-01-07T18:17:33Z")
> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#): > > Not this prairie boy. I remember when weathercasts said things like, “it’s -23 with a windchill factor of 2300 which means exposed flesh will freeze before you leave the house.” I always wanted them to give the effective temp because 2300 means nothing to me. > > I prefer the effective temperature method since it is meaningful to me. I understand what you are saying, but we are going to have to disagree. I don’t think wind can be stated as a temperature in a meaningful way. People then start stating the windchill as the actual temperature and that is annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/38 "2014-01-07T18:28:29Z")
I can’t get behind this Pitting - the wind chill “feels like” temperature is more important to me than the air temperature because I’m a recreational walker - I need to know how fast the wind chill is going to suck the heat out of me (and how many layers to put on). As this thread is demonstrating, it is critical for weather forecasters to make both measurements available, because some people need to know one, and other people need to know the other one. We always get both here - if they stopped giving wind chill, I’d be screwed. Well, I guess not - I’d just need to know the wind speed and direction as well as the temperature then before I could set out on a walk - just giving me a wind chill makes it so much easier for me to dress for walking in winter. As for not having emergency supplies in your car, that’s dumb if you live anyplace that does get deathly cold. I see it here, too - people counting on a car never breaking down (or never getting into a collision), so they dress for inside when it’s -25ºC outside. Dumb. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/39 "2014-01-07T18:38:44Z")
> [@Mikemike2](#): > > I understand what you are saying, but we are going to have to disagree. I don’t think wind can be stated as a temperature in a meaningful way. People then start stating the windchill as the actual temperature and that is annoying. Add that to the thousands of other basic things many people just don’t understand… ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126/40 "2014-01-07T19:00:10Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > As for not having emergency supplies in your car, that’s dumb if you live anyplace that does get deathly cold. I see it here, too - people counting on a car never breaking down (or never getting into a collision), so they dress for inside when it’s -25ºC outside. Dumb. Or if it makes sense to dress like that every day keep a kit in your car. Mine has a few pair of wool socks in various sizes, mittens, hats scarves, a couple blankets and some protein and granola bars. I also carry a six pack of water (currently frozen of course) and a bag of sand. It used to be kitty litter but it’s hard to find non clumping litter and take it from me, clumping litter is NOT a big help in gaining traction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-your-wind-chill-and-blow-it-out-your-ass/678126.md?page=3)