Hey Ray: Wind chill and temperature
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It is time to answer another viewer's question! This one is about the wind chill.
Adam asks, "If it feels like -22°, isn't it -22° outside then? I've really never understood that."
Wind chills can be confusing, so it might be easiest to define the wind chill or feels like temperature.
According to the National Weather Service, wind chill is a term used to describe what the air temperature feels like to the human skin due to the combination of cold temperatures and winds blowing on exposed skin.
So, why does wind matter?
When it is calm, the heat your body radiates creates a layer of warmth around your body. That little layer is sort of like a thin layer of insulation around you.
However, when the wind is blowing, it removes that layer of body heat around you. While your body tries to replace that layer of heat, the wind keeps blowing that heat away, This speeds up the loss of body heat, making it feel colder.
It's sort of like blowing on hot soup.
The wind chill only matters to living things, too.
Substances and materials aren't really impacted by the wind chill because they can't feel.
The freezing point of water is 32°. If the temperature is above 32°, the water will not freeze. Even if the wind chill or feels like the temperature drops well below that.
The wind will, though, cut down the time it takes for the substance to cool...just like hot soup!
Viewer questions are great! If you ever have one, please send it to rpetelin@kdka.com.