Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik

Abteilung Astronomie

Waldhäuser Str. 64, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany

The Wind Chill Factor

The wind-chill factor is an empirical quantity that was introduced in the 1940s trying to quantify how one feels the current weather. The rationale between the wind-chill factor is that due to the stronger evaporative cooling of the human skin during times of larger wind speed the ambient temperature is perceived to be much colder than during times of low wind speeds. The wind-chill factor used here is computed from

T(wc) = 0.081(3.71 sqrt(V) + 5.81 - 0.25 V) (T - 91.4)+91.4

where T is the temperature, measured in Fahrenheit, and V the wind speed, measured in miles per hour. T(wc) is the perceived temperature (again in Fahrenheit).

That we are using non-metric units here is due to the fact that the wind-chill factor is not used a lot outside of the U.S. since the perceived temperature is not a measurable quantity and therefore a rather non-scientific quantity. We have decided to give the wind chill factor just for the fun of it, but caution to take these values too seriously.

Further information on the wind-chill factor can be found, e.g., at http://www.gunstock.com/windchil.htm.

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Last update 1999-Nov-25