Weather

What exactly is a wind chill?

In Florida, we’re used to a heat index. Warm summer temperatures, sweltering humidity – all leading to a temperature that “feels” warmer than it actually is. But in the winter, it’s cousin the “wind chill” becomes the more dominate weather phenomena.


What You Need To Know

  • Wind chill is a “feels-like” temperature combining the cold temperatures with blowing winds
  • Wind chill values start when temperatures reach 50 degrees
  • Central Florida doesn’t experience wind chills often
  • Wind Chill alerts are even more rare in Florida, and signal significant cold air masses

More common up north, wind chill values are a forecast of what the air feels like on your skin in the winter. It’s a combination of taking the actual air temperature and measuring it against the blowing sustained wind. The colder the temperature and the higher the wind speeds, the colder the wind chill value.

A person’s body radiates heat, creating a personal bubble of warmth. That “heat bubble”, if you will, exists several inches around our body. But as the wind blows, that bubble of warmth gets stripped away from us, exposing our skin to bitter cold temperatures. The stronger the winds, the more heat that gets stripped away, leading to more and more heat loss. Thus, the stronger the winds, the colder it will feel.

 

The National Weather Service utilizes this easy to read chart to help determine the wind chill. (National Weather Service)

These values are crucial up north during the heart of winter, as it can drastically impact a person’s health. Wind chills can easily dip below 0 in many spots which, if not prepared for, can lead to frostbite and hypothermia rather quickly.

Wind chill values start once the air temperature reaches 50 degrees. Above that temperature, wind chill is not a grave concern for a person’s health. Due to the low air temperature value needed for a wind chill to be measured, the state of Florida only deals with wind chills a few times a year.

Wind Chill Alerts

Wind chills can drop well below 0 for some across the great north. Due to these bitter temperatures, health impacts become a greater factor the colder the wind chill goes. The National Weather Service employs a range of Wind Chill Alerts to warn the public when wind chill values are forecast to be dangerous to a person’s health.

The National Weather Service can issue three different Wind Chill Alerts:

  • Wind Chill Watch
  • Wind Chill Advisory
  • Wind Chill Warning

A Wind Chill Watch is typically issued first, normally up to 48 hours before the dangerous wind chills will arrive in a region. This watch is meant to provide a long enough period of warning to residents in a particular area that dangerous and potentially deadly wind chills are forecast for your area during a specific time in the next 2 days.

These watches are then followed up with either an advisory or a warning depending on the strength of the forecast wind chill values. Each NWS office in the country has a specific criteria for what constitutes an advisory or a warning.

For example, dangerous wind chills to those in Minneapolis are not the same as to those in central Florida. That’s because those residents in Minneapolis are more accustomed to bitter wind chills during the winter months, so having a wind chill alert for them must represent a specific high impact event. For Floridians, wind chills are very rare here due to our warm tropical air mass that resides year around. So when we receive wind chills in the 30s, that a big deal and a wind chill alert could be issued. 

How often does Central Florida get wind chill alerts?

According to data from the Iowa State University, getting wind chill alerts in The City Beautiful is quite rare. 

Since 2010, Orlando has seen only six Wind Chill Warnings and only one Wind Chill Watch.

Central Florida has received 100 Wind Chill Advisories over that 12-year period. While that number may seem high, it’s still very much low when you consider over 4,700 days have passed since the start of the measuring period. 

Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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