Weather Whys: What is wind chill?

 

We hear a lot about wind chill during the winter months and most of us generally know what it is - an effect the wind has on colder air that makes the body feel colder than the actual air temperature. We went a little more in depth on Weather Whys.

The definition of wind chill is the lowering of body temperature because of wind moving colder air. We know that as objects heat up it's not just the inside of the object that gets hot but the surrounding area. Think of your oven. When you turn it on the surrounding area can get a little warm. Your body is the same way. There's a thin bubble of warm air around the surface of your body and when the wind blows it disturbs that warm air and causes the body temperature to decrease. The faster the wind speed, the faster the body cools. 

There's a complicated equation to actually figure out wind chill, but that's the general idea!

Weather Whys is a segment by Meteorologist Justin Thompson-Gee that airs during the CBS 58 News on WMLW - The M from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. The segment answers viewer weather questions, explains weather phenomena and reveals interesting weather stats. To submit your question reach out to Justin on Facebook, Twitter or by emailing him at [email protected].