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Wind chilliest
By adamg on Sat, 02/13/2016 - 7:13pm
The National Weather Service posted this map showing the lowest anticipated wind-chill temperatures for southern New England for tonight into Sunday morning.
Brr. Or as the NWS says in its Boston-area wind-chill warning, in effect through noon, Sunday:
WIND CHILLS THIS COLD CAN BRING ON FROSTBITE IN AS LITTLE AS 10 MINUTES! OUTDOOR EXPOSURE SHOULD BE LIMITED IN THESE CONDITIONS. STRONG WINDS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING MAY DOWN A FEW LARGE TREE LIMBS.
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Comments
may I say:
Warning people from cold climes
At work, someone visiting from an equatorial country was really freaked out when a colleague started warning him about taking proper precautions and the risks attendant with severe cold. "What do you mean, I could lose pieces of myself?!"
PSA
If you drop somebody off in this weather, or send someone home, make sure that there is a "chain of custody" between warm spaces.
This means that you don't drive off until you see somebody get into the building. It means that you have somebody wait inside until their ride arrives. It means that, if people are taking the bus or walking, that you don't turn off the lights or lock up until you know that they have gotten to a warmspace.
I just took a son's friend home, and I'm very glad that I waited the minute or so for her to discover that she did not have her key. She got back in the car and called her aunt, and I drove her over and dropped her off there. If I had taken off right away, with the temperature already below zero and the wind raging, it could have been very bad.
The #$%*ing WIND!
Good advice, Swirly, but I was out yesterday and what I noticed more than anything else was that "raging" wind you mentioned. Earlier in the day with the deceptively bright sun and the air relatively calm, it was just
about bearable. But as the skies dimmed and the wind became relentless, cutting through layers of clothing, numbing my face as it blew straight at me, the tips of my gloved fingers stinging as I pulled off the glove on one hand and shoved it in my pocket to regain sensation, then did the same with the other hand after switching the bag of groceries I was carrying...it seemed like mother nature was punishing us for those recent fifty-something degree days. It just kept blowing in my face whichever direction I turned and I wanted to cry uncle and hibernate like a bear. Alright, Mother Nature! I know it's February and it's New England, but could you tone down that nasty WIND. After this, forty degrees will seem like picnic- with-ice-cream weather.
Enough with the "wind chill"
I have noticed that the "wind chill factor" has overtaken the actual temperature in the way weather is reported now. It is always mentioned first, as if it is the actual temperature. This is done for sensationalism and is misleading. A "wind chill" can do nothing in and of itself (i.e. cause frostbite, freeze pipes, car radiators, etc) unless the air temperature itself is of a degree that will do this. Your skin can only get as cold as the air temperature, not the "wind chill". The "wind chill" only tells you the rate at which your skin will reach the air temperature.
Extreme wind chill can make
Extreme wind chill can make the difference between frostbite in 30 minutes and frostbite in 10 minutes. So it's worth reporting in situations like this.
It's still relevant
Wind increases the speed at which an object cools down to the ambient temperature, so yes, it is highly relevant. When the ambient temperature is low enough for hypothermia, people become hypothermic faster; when it's low enough for flesh to freeze, people get frostbit faster. It's absolutely relevant.