Feels colder than it is
Sara did not listen to the warnings about the windchill and spent too much time outside in the cold wind. “At first it felt so cold that it hurt. After a while my ears and nose went numb. I thought that was a good thing and I could stay out longer. By the time I came inside, my ears and nose were bright red. It was really painful when they thawed out again.” The windchill factor describes what happens to a body with exposure to cold and windy conditions. With increasing winds, heat is drawn from the body at a faster rate. This drives down both the skin temperature (increasing susceptibility to frostbite) and eventually the internal body temperature (leading to hypothermia). At the same temperature, you will feel much colder in the wind than in a calm area. In high winds, the likelihood of serious cold-weather-related health problems is more likely. The windchill temperature is a unit of measurement used to describe the windchill factor. The windchill temperature is how cold you feel when you are outside in the cold and wind. This measure is based on rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by the combined cooling effect of wind and cold temperature. For example, if the temperature is 0°F and the wind is blowing at 15 mph, the windchill is -19°F. At this windchill temperature, exposed skin can freeze in 30 minutes. References: |
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 Shaded areas indicate frostbite danger based upon |
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