changing 'wind chill warnings' to 'extreme cold"

didn't want to hijack a similar-topic post.

the nws is experimenting with changing the term "wind chill warnings" to "extreme cold alerts".

in an interview on npr, nws eastern north dakota and northwestern minnesota meteorologist greg gust - how fitting, a meteorologist named gust - explains it. and those folks up there know something about cold weather.

transcript here.

Well, since I'm originally from Winnipeg, my advice to anyone wanting to experience wind chill would be to stand at the corner of Portage and Main.

Sorry, some prarie humor.

... wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. Underwear optional.

Yep, good ol' Winterpeg has a reputation, even among Canadians. Seems like a perfect location for extreme adventure tourism. It's all in the marketing.

Back to the OP: there may well be a better way of communicating the effects of wind chill to the general public. Up here, when there is extreme wind chill, the news forecasters often add the tag "... that means exposed flesh will freeze in less than one minute." Kinda drives home the point.

So if they call windchill extreme cold, what do they call actual extreme cold now?

I prefer windchill.

Interesting. I think this change is less informative, since windchill is combination of temperature, wind speed, humidity, etc. Windchill may not be much of a concern for someone who is going to be indoors out of the wind, but "extreme cold" could have a whole separate set of repercussions for people both indoors and outdoors depending on what the temperature and/or winds were going to be.

I've always found wind chill as informative as I needed. When I was in the AF, we used wind chill as ways to determine the length of time we would allow folks to work on the flightline. Below a certain wind chill factor, only work inside or inside the aircraft was allowed. I don't think his vernacular allows for the fidelity I'd like. Where does the extreme cold alert begin? -20? -30? Is that with the wind being factored in? It makes a difference. Not convinced based upon his explanation.

I agree. It is useful to maintain the distinction between windchill and actual ambient temperature.

For example, as I sit inside and type this, according to the weather service the outside ambient temperature is +11 F and the wind is 29 mph with gusts to 43. That means for someone walking in the open, the effective temperature ("windchill") is about -12 to -15. However, should that person find some shelter from the wind, perhaps by stepping into a thick woods, the effective temperature would rise to +11 F. On the other hand, if the ambient temperature were actually -12 F, and that person stepped into the think woods, the effective temperature would still be -12 F.

It is rather obvious to say, but when dealing with windchill, anything that protects you from the wind makes it warmer. Just putting on a thin shell garment (with no additional insulation whatever) makes a big difference. On the other hand, when dealing with ambient temperature, you really need more insulation!

Seems to me a funny habit to mention windchill in the forecast because it varies due to different circumstanses. The wind comes and goes so the variation might be quite big.

Here in Finland they mention only the actual temperature in the weather forecast. It´s then up to yourself to take into account any possible windchill.

Of course, when high winds are expected winter time, weather forecaster usually mentions that wind makes the cold fel a lot colder.

my takeaway from this nws experiment is that they are shifting the focus to the 'cold' aspect of 'wind chill' - which as we all realize can / will kill you - as opposed to focusing on the 'wind' part, which as mentioned in previous posts, is also a real danger but perhaps not as much as the actual 'cold'.

i would suspect that people who live in the colder climes would not go outside with uncovered skin when it's cold.

i mean, i had to put on long pants today as the temp dropped into the low 60s.

I've never related anything useful to "wind chill" calculations.

When judging conditions I want to know a given set of parameters. Two of the most important ones are temperature and wind speed. Lumping those two together into a single digit is not helpful for me - I want to hear them BOTH.

The "Wind chill" number - I just filter that bit out. Not helpful for me, and I'm not interested.

The wind chill table has some merits for pedagogic purposes. Some people need sciency-sounding arguments to realize they actually have to dress for conditions and respect the effect of the wind on conditions.

Proper clothing is never more important than when it is blowing hard at low temperatures. You should also realize that any action becomes ten times harder because a) you really don't want to remove your mittens, and b) if you have to remove them you have to be extremely careful not to loose them. Routines such as ALWAYS tucking your mittens FIRMLY in your pocket suddenly becomes extremely important. Loose a mitten and loose a hand. Items such as face masks, googles and a hood that fits are suddenly important.

There are other factors as well. At about force 7 on Beaufort scale in winter you become virtually dumb, deaf, mute and blind. High winds and powdery snow means very limited visibility. The noise of the wind (with your ears inside your hood and balaclava) means that communication is limited - you put your mates ear 3 inches from your mouth and shout all you can, and maybe he'll understand.

But - with proper clothing and good field routines you can function and operate quite well. But your margin for error is very small.

That's the kind of factors I want to know about. The "chill" part is the easy part - you just dress properly.

I have always found the windchill reading to be useful. Obviously, with the wind blowing, it will be colder than the still air temperature. The windchill gives me an idea of how much colder it will be. Granted, consulting a standard windchill chart is easy, but giving the figure in the forecast is convenient useful information.