Glencoe Keyboarding with Computer Applications

Explain Wind Chill

Introduction
Find out more about wind chill.

Directions
Read the information below and apply what you learn to answer the questions. Key your answers into the spaces provided.

What Is Wind Chill?Wind chill is the apparent temperature that a person feels because of the effect of wind speed on air temperature. For example, if the air temperature is 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but the wind is blowing at 30 mph, wind chill makes it feel like it is 28 degrees!

Note: You may see wind chill spelled as one word: windchill, or hyphenated as in wind-chill factor.

In the above scenario, the wind-chill factor causes the average person's body to lose the same amount of heat as if it were 12 degrees colder (40 – 28 = 12 degrees).

Therefore, wind chill does not truly matter to objects without significant heat to lose, such as a rock or a tree. Rather, wind chill is merely an indication of the temperature a person will "feel" despite the actual temperature, because of the wind. Wind chill can be calculated—see the chart below.

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(Source: National Weather Service, www.weather.gov)

Find Information on a Web Site With your teacher's permission, use the Internet to seek out information on wind chill. Visit the National Weather Service Web site on wind chill at www.weather.gov/om/windchill. Here you will find more information on wind chill, including a wind chill calculator.

Activity Questions

1			Explain wind chill in your own words.
2			Which is more likely to be affected by wind chill, a dog or a rock? Why?
3			Using the chart, what will the temperature feel like if the wind is blowing at 30 miles per hour and the real temperature is 30 degrees Fahrenheit?
4			Using the chart, what is the wind chill on a winter day in Chicago when the temperature is 10 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind is blowing at 55 miles per hour?
5			According to the wind chill chart above, approximately how long will it take for frostbite to set in if the temperature is 5 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind is blowing at 45 miles per hour?