This wind chill calculator helps you estimate the temperature felt by your body as a result of the actual measured temperature and wind speed. The temperature we perceive because of wind chill differs from the actual temperature of the air. This applies to all the values of temperature when you use a valid formula.
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How to use the wind chill calculator?
This wind chill calculator is also known as a frostbite calculator, a cold day calculator or a real feel calculator. It’s a simple online tool that’s easy to use as it only requires two values. Here are the steps to use this calculator:
- First, enter the value of the Wind Speed and choose the unit of measurement from the drop-down menu.
- Then enter the value of the Air Temperature and choose the unit of measurement from the drop-down menu.
- After entering both values, the calculator automatically provides you with the Wind Chill Temperature.
How do you calculate the wind chill?
Strong winds have the potential to increase your rate of heat loss greatly, especially during cold weather. Wind chill tries to place a value to this effect and it’s based on how wind affects exposed skin. If you need to calculate wind chill without using a wind chill calculator, you need two important values.
First, is the wind speed and second, is the measurement of temperature. You can acquire both values from your local weather forecasts. For the calculation of wind chill by hand, follow these steps:
- Take the measurement of the temperature using a thermometer. As aforementioned, you can also get this value for the local weather forecast. You can use either Celsius or Fahrenheit.
- Keep in mind that wind chill has an undefined value if you have a temperature measurement over 10ºC or 50ºF. The reason for this is that the wind doesn’t have much of an effect on the apparent temperature when it gets this high.
- Next, measure or look up the wind speed. You may find estimates of the wind speed in your area on websites which predict the weather. You can also search for this value online. Finally, you can also measure the wind speed manually using an anemometer.
- If the value you used for temperature is Fahrenheit, use miles per hour or mph for the unit of measurement of wind speed. If the value you used for temperature is Celsius, use kilometers per hour or km/h for the unit of measurement of wind speed.
- If you use the official measurement of wind speed at 10 m or 33 ft, multiply this value by 0.75 giving you a rough wind speed estimate at 1.5 m or 5 ft which also happens to be the typical height of a person’s face. Any wind that blows below 4.8 km/h or 3 mph doesn’t provide a significant wind chill.
- If you need to find the wind chill value but you don’t have a thermometer, an anemometer or a cold day calculator, you can use the Fahrenheit formula which is:
Wind Chill = 35.74 + 0.6215T – 35.75(V0.16) + 0.4275T(V0.16).
For this formula, T refers to the air temperature and V refers to the wind speed. There are different variations of the wind chill formula but this one is the most commonly used.
- Even if you have the required values, you can also use these formulas:
If you use mph and ºF, the formula is Wind chill temperature = 35.74 + 0.6215T – 35.75V0.16 + 0.4275TV0.16
If you use km/h and ºC, the formula is Wind chill temperature = 13.12 + 0.6215T – 11.37V0.16 + 0.3965TV0.16
- After performing the calculation, make an adjustment for sunshine. Bright sunshine tends to elevate the apparent temperature. There’s no standard formula for this but you will feel like the air is a bit warmer than what the wind chill value indicates.
- Apart from solving for the value of wind chill, you should also understand this concept better. By definition, this concept describes how wind hastens the rate of heat loss on the skin.
How dangerous is wind chill?
Although wind chill can be very harmful, it’s not an actual reading of temperature. It’s a measure of heat loss experienced by the body, specifically the skin when it’s exposed to wind. The colder the wind chill is, the more harmful it can be.
The body gives off heat in order to protect our skin from cold temperatures. But when a strong wind blows, this can also blow the heat layer away from the skin, thus eliminating our body’s natural protection against the cold.
Wind chill also serves as an excellent predictor of hypothermia, frostbite, and other dangerous conditions. When you get exposed to wind chills below zero, you can experience frostbite in a matter of five minutes. Any value lower than that increases the rate at which you experience frostbite.
Therefore, when it’s windy and cold outside, you should cover your skin up, especially your face! If needed, use several layers of clothing because even when you cover your skin, wind chills can still pose harm when you expose yourself to the outdoors for a long period of time.
If you want to avoid the effects of wind chill altogether, the best thing to do is to stay indoors. But if you need to go outside, minimize your skin exposure by dressing in several layers.
How fast does frostbite wind chill?
As aforementioned, wind chill may increase your risk of developing frostbite. This is a condition where the tissues of your extremities die. This occurs when your extremities get exposed to wind chill or freezing temperatures for a certain amount of time.
This exposure causes the body to cut off circulation to the extremities to keep the internal organs protected. This lack of circulation results in the death of these tissues. Apart from this, wind chill may also cause hypothermia.
This condition occurs when you experience a drop in your core body temperature. Hypothermic people lose body heat. If you expose yourself to cold and windy conditions for a long time without the appropriate attire, you will start suffering from this condition.
