Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Computing the Wind Chill

Last week I had the opportunity to speak to parents and children at Rockton's Talcott Library. We spoke about winter weather, thunderstorms, and tornadoes. One of the great questions that was posed to me was "How do you measure the wind chill and heat index?"

While wind chill and heat index are two completely different things, they are quite similar! Heat index is derived from temperature and humidity readings. Wind chill is derived from temperature and wind readings. So, there really isn't a way to "measure" either. That's why we use the terms index and factor...because it's not a precise number. To find the number that is close we have to look at a chart. Click on the Wind chill chart above to figure out tonight's factor. We'll have temperatures around +5° with windspeeds around 25mph. Tomorrow's temperatures will top out around +15° with windspeeds of 25mph.

If you'd like to find the precise wind chill factor, you can do the math. The equation is at the bottom of the chart. If someone would like to do it for me and get the precise number, I will show it on the air tonight! :-) -ERIC

8 comments:

Eric Sorensen said...

No one willing to help me out here? :~( -ERIC

Anonymous said...

Tonight: Windchill = -4.04 degrees
Tomorrow: Windchill = -17.41 degrees

It's some pretty easy math

-Stormpuncher

Anonymous said...

I typed those in backwards, it should be:

Tonight: Wind Chill = -17.41 degrees
Tomorrow: Wind Chill = -4.04 degrees

Sorry about that.

Anonymous said...

This is very subjective. It's hard to calculate the precise wind chill with forecasted numbers.

Eric Sorensen said...

Yes, however the temperature right now (9pm) is 24 with a wind of 13...gives us a precise wind chill of 13.

Eric Sorensen said...

Thanks stormpuncher! If you give your name and location, you will be mentioned on 13News10@10! -ERIC

Anonymous said...

My name:

Tyler McDowall
Poplar Grove, IL

Eric Sorensen said...

Thanks Tyler!!!