# What is "wind chill" all about?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wind-chill-all-about/935>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [June 17, 1999, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wind-chill-all-about/935 "1999-06-17T04:25:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wind-chill-all-about/935/1 "1999-06-17T04:25:00Z")

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It’s not just that your brain thinks it’s colder than it really is; because of the wind your skin is losing heat faster, and frostbite will occur more quickly than if there is no wind. Trust me on this - i’m from Saskatchewan, and our sadistic announcers on the CBC begin their weather casts on windy days in January with cheery little bulletins like: “Exposed flesh will freeze in 30 seconds.”

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 1999, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wind-chill-all-about/935/2 "1999-06-22T19:28:00Z")

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Here in Virginia, the yearly concern is the opposite effect: heat index. You have to sweat more in our humid environment to get an equivalent cooling effect.

Conversely, in the winter the humidity compounds the wind chill.

What I want to know is at what temperature and/or wind speed does the humidity affect neither wind chill nor heat index.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 1999, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wind-chill-all-about/935/3 "1999-06-22T19:50:00Z")

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I too grew up with those cheery little CBC weather reports. “Temperature is -25, but with the wind chill -58…” I always sort of disbelieved them, because I’d walk to school against the wind (a 25 minute walk) with my face exposed, and it wouldn’t freeze. I always figured that either I was weird (but all my friends did it too) or the weather people exaggerated.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 1999, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wind-chill-all-about/935/4 "1999-06-23T11:27:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Conversely, in the winter the humidity compounds the wind chill.

Not so. All else being equal, the wind chill on a dry day will be more severe (ie, colder) than the wind chill on a humid day.