What is the Wind Chill Index?
Anyone who has experienced winter in the Midwest knows that your outdoor comfort depends on several factors, only one of them being temperature. Factors such as whether it’s sunny or cloudy, windy or calm, damp or dry, can also play an important role. One popular approach in measuring the level of discomfort (and potential danger from frostbite) is the wind chill index. The wind chill index takes into account both the temperature and wind speed. The original work on wind chill was done by Antarctic explorers Paul Siple and Charles Passel in the winter of 1941. They measured the amount of time it took a pan of water to freeze and found that the rate of heat loss from the container could be determined from the air temperature and wind speed. There is some controversy over this methodology because its application to humans is not straightforward. We are a more complex than a pan of water and each person responds differently depending on age, size, health, degree of physical activity, etc.
