Yeah, preparedness is key, and I worry about people who don’t even have a blanket in their trunks. I’d like to think that a shocking wind chill number might make them pay attention, but I haven’t seen it. Then again, I’ve never had a reliable car so maybe that’s something.
I’ve generally been happy not owning a car, but the closer I get to being an old lady, the more I think door-to-door driving is a luxury worth having. Then I wouldn’t care about wind chill.
Oh, certainly it is true. Even with wind and clothes you will still feel colder than still air at the same temperature.
But not to the level indicated by the ‘Wind Chill’. Its 15 degrees out but is -17 with the ‘Wind Chill’ no it isn’t. If you are properly clothed it will in no way feel like -17 degrees!
By the same token, the Heat Index is a crap stat as well. Just keep an eye on the Dew Point and be done with it!
Oh, yeah, here’s the difference between -25 windchill and actual -25:
With a windchill of -25 and a temp of, say, 0… I wear 1 coat, 1 hat, wool socks, two layers of scarf over my face. Cleaning off the car isn’t too bad, and it probably starts.
Actual -25 it’s 2 coats, 2 hats, three layers (or more) of scarf over the face. Ice on any surface of the car is like rock. The rearview mirror on the car cracks in two. I have to unhook the car battery, warm it up inside, then take it out again to start the car. Then, when I chip the rocklike ice off the car, get inside, and hit the windshield wash button the washer fluid freezes solid on contact. I stare at it completely stunned, then drag out the bottle. Yup, freezes at -20. Oh [expletive deleted], start the defrost up on high, wait 5 minutes, drag my chilled butt outside the car again and chip the washer fluid ice off the windshield.
Yes, that is based on true story.
I’m with you, Zeke. I also remember the “watts per square meter” days, and not understanding what I was hearing. I’ve never felt a watt, but I have felt temperatures. Giving the windchill in a “feels like” temperature means something to me.
High school. Early 70s. Southern Wisconsin. Delivered the morning newspaper. By hand (No vehicle. No wagon. By hand. Bag on my shoulder. Tried a toboggan a few times.). About 100 newspapers. I still remember a few times in winter at 4:30am the actual air temperature was -35 to -40F. The wind chill was around -85F.
Took maybe two hours to deliver all the papers on those mornings. Delivered direct to underneath the doormats or between the storm door and main door. Or you just got it sitting on your doorstep if you had neither. (I can fold a newspaper without rubber bands or in a plastic bag and it will never blow apart in a winter blast. They don’t teach that anymore.) Yeah, it was cold. Never got frostbite. Dressed in layers long before it became “trendy.” My mittens were US Army surplus, with extra filling. Toasty! My jacket was genuine US Army green with inner vest (compliments of my brother who didn’t need it while in country) with detachable hood (real fur trimmed).
Oh, yeah. Schools didn’t close then, either. Only if we got an overnight snowfall greater than 18 inches or so. Never for cold. Walked to school, too. Uphill all of the way.
Wussies today. Don’t eat the yellow snow. Yeah, my signature back then, too.
You know, I was about to get indignant about the school thing, but the I looked down at my North Face jacket, insulated boots, and fleece leggings. That stuff is expensive, and there are a lot of people in this city who aren’t able to buy real winter gear- especially for a kid who is going to need new parkas every year or so.
I think a lot of people buy cheap jackets and stretch gloves meant for temps in the 40s, and then grin and bear it when it’s in the 30s. You can push that stuff through the normal coldest days in the 20s, so it works most years.
As a winter hiker the reporting wins chill as rather annoying as it isn’t providing data that’s meaningful to most people. Wind chill matters to me more than most people but I can do just fine without that knowledge. Base temperature is what matters. That is what I want to know. If I know it’s going to be -25 on Mount Washington I can prepare for any associated wind chills. Telling me the wind chill will be -50 doesn’t tell me what gear I’ll be needing.
The only reason the keep throwing out feels like instead of actual is because bigger/lower numbers sound scarier.
Another problem is that in the old days people spent more time out of doors. You grew up having your parents dress you properly when very young, and when you were older you had already assimilated knowledge about how to deal with cold and snow.
Now our kids are chauffeured everywhere and fashion dictates based on what Hollywood - a much warmer climate than most places in this country - thinks is cool rather than what the local environment makes practical. The knowledge of how to deal with this sort of weather is lost to many and they just aren’t well equipped to make good decisions.
Having trouble finding this, so I may ask here:
Wasn’t “Wind Chill” supposed to be dropped from the weather reports? I thought that a few years ago weather people had come to conclude that it was a very inaccurate reading to make and report about, and I remember listening or reading reports about the weather people planning to drop it, what happened?
Anyone standing on a north-south street waiting for a bus when it’s -15 C or F, with a wind chill of -30 C or F blowing from the north, and doesn’t think -30 wind chill doesn’t feel like -30 in calm air, has rocks in his head.
. . . and THINKS -30 wind chill doesn’t feel like -30 in calm air, has rocks in his head.
It warmed up to -24 C/-11F here, so I’m a little giddy.
Even if you can afford real winter gear, it doesn’t make a lot of sense: I mean, if I have to chose between an annual zoo membership, that I know we will use and love, and a set of cold-weather gear that will likely never get worn before the kid outgrows it–I am going with the zoo membership, and if lightening strikes and temps get crazy low, we will keep the kid home.
I wonder if the decision to close schools is related to concerns about the power grid? Public schools are big drafty places.
And school closing are all or nothing: you can’t just cancel the day for the elementary schools. So while high school students might have been fine, you’ve got to think about 50 lb 5-year olds at bus stops.
Err …they’re stupid!?
50 degrees below freezing is -18°F
Since the US is the only country in the world where Fahrenheit is the accepted standard for non-scientific use, it’s likely that the person is using the Celsius scale in which -50°C would be correct.
It’s possible they were exaggerating slightly, the lowest temperature I remember seeing was -46°C
In the Yukon, NWT, Alaska, etc… those temperatures are definitely possible.
Chunks of ice in your head? 
For the last 20 years I’ve commuted by bike or walking year 'round, in Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. My typical commute has been 30 minutes to an hour. Personally I find the current wind chill system extremely useful; minus 15 C with a wind speed of 15 km/hr is not the same beast as -15 C with no wind and it makes a huge difference. I would not want to be screwing around with wattage calculations and knowing a rough estimate temperature equivalent is fine with me.
Notwithstanding the wind chill issue, I do agree that the media does blow the weather completely out of proportion. I’ve seen weather reports in Montreal and Ottawa suggesting that -5 C is really cold and that people should be careful, which is absurd.
Wind chill is a very useful thing when dressing for cold. If the wind chill is very low, face and hand protection is highly advised. If it’s 35 F but the wind chill is -20, it lets you know what you are in for when you are outside in the wind.
In that case, very high winds.
Which Chicago do you live in? In mine even Tom Skilling loves the more extreme scale.
A couple guys at work, around my age, were talking about how -17F on Monday was the record and the coldest it’s ever been in Chicago. That might’ve been the record for a January 7, but they didn’t remember 1985 when it got down to -27F. They had to look it up to believe me.
I may have misheard it, but I thought I heard the announcer on the radio recently say that the ocean was “going to feel like it was -30 degrees.”
