Windchill factors in the media

[PakledHostage]

There was a story on the CBC this morning about how the media has been over dramatising the recent period of cold temperatures in North America. I don't know how many time's I've heard the phrase "polar vortex" (usually said in an alarmed tone) in the news in the past week... It got me thinking about how wind chill factor has been distorted in recent years.

When I grew up on the Canadian prairies, wind chill factor was quoted in Watts per square metre. When Environment Canada said it was 3000 W/m², you knew it was extreme and that you had to cover every last bit of exposed skin. Maybe even wear ski goggles if you had to be outside in the wind for long. Media outside of public broadcasters would usually "translate" the Environment Canada numbers into an equivalent temperature, so eventually even Environment Canada capitulated. Now everyone reports wind chill factor as a wind chill temperature.

Trouble is that people don't seem to know anymore what it means when the wind chill factor is reported as "-1 000 000 °C !!!!". People believe that it actually is that cold. I have even been asked how car thermometers are calibrated so that they don't read -40°C when the ambient temperature is -20°C and you're driving at 100 km/h.

My question then for this forum is: What (if anything) can we do about it? Does it matter? Or is it another example of the dumbing down of our society? Maybe W/m² is too technical for most people but what if we were to drop the units and call it an index? It is an idealised number anyway. The idea of using an index that is less prone to misinterpretation and exaggeration appeals to my engineering sensibilities, but maybe I'm the one who should lighten up? What do people do in countries outside of North America?

Edited January 9, 2014 by PakledHostage

[lajoswinkler]

In my country, they're almost exclusively real meteorologists with proper education, at least the ones on official national broadcast channels. They rarely report windchill temperatures, though.

During the summer months, they even instruct people how to properly measure temperature because people usually just put a thermometer on the ground and let it bathe in the sunlight before they start screaming about "60°C!!!"

Private media... that's something completely different. Their reports are inaccurate and sensationalistic. Not many people actually know that reporting inaccurate weather reports and forecasts is illegal. Of course, when you live in a Bananaland, not many people care, even if it's their job to care.

[nhnifong]

The US National Weather Service doesn't report wind chill, probably due to it being misleading

But of course the TV weather channels report it as well as filling their broadcast with all kinds of other stupid stuff. It seems like just being on a TV can make anything stupid, even weather. How did this ever get started? In my opinion, it is that TV was a doomed medium from the start because the viewer cannot participate. There have always been alternatives, and recently those alternatives are pretty good, so TV's audience grew smaller and selective pressure drove it to be a collection of the stupidest people in any population.

[rpayne88]

That's the reason I use ADDS over T.V. weather (glad I'm working on a pilot's license.) I can see the wind, its direction, temperature and dew point (I just need to get used to using Celsius for this. Yes I know 100 is boiling and 0 is freezing.)

[Raven.]

In Texas meteorologists report something called a "Heat Index." Same thing essentially, except in parts of Texas 90 degrees is considered a cool day during the middle of June and July.

The press here in the States are funny. If they are overhyping this "polar vortex," as they do every other weather phenomenon, it's usually because they're bored and tired of reporting that the President walked his dog. They'll come out in the spring and say that the mid west had an unprecedented tornado outbreak, when the said tornado outbreak happens every year. I don't think it's dumping down our society as much as it is that our TV weathermen here in the states are nothing more than news anchors reading off a chart. I remember growing up in Texas, they had one TV weatherman on the local news channel that got on every time for the local news. But then they had a completely different weatherman for when there was a tornado (who actually knew what he was talking about).

We also had a saying back in Texas, "don't trust the weatherman."

[Themohawkninja]

As far as your body is concerned, thinking that the wind chill is the actual temperature is basically correct. Your body acts to a -10 C wind chill as if it were actually -10 C outside.

Also, society isn't dumbing down. Research some intelligence tests and what younger and younger people are creating. Society is getting smarter by the generation, not dumber.

[PakledHostage]

As far as your body is concerned, thinking that the wind chill is the actual temperature is basically correct. Your body acts to a -10 C wind chill as if it were actually -10 C outside.

Not really. The idealised tables and empirical equations that define wind chill temperature make assumptions about the surface temperature of the body that is being cooled. This is why they talk about the effect of wind chill on exposed skin. The convective heat loss of someone standing naked is obviously different than that of someone wearing a heavy parka because the difference in temperature between the air and the surface of the person is smaller when wearing a parka than it is for someone standing naked. The heat transfer rate isn't a linear relationship either because the convective heat transfer coefficient is also dependent on the air temperature in the boundary layer. You can get away with having an exposed face at -40°C if there's no wind, but it will be darn uncomfortable or even dangerous to have an exposed face at -30°C and exposed to 20 kph winds (roughly -40°C wind chill temperature). This is why it makes more sense to use a wind chill index than a wind chill temperature. It is less likely to be misinterpreted as having any physical meaning or to be used as an excuse to exaggerate.

The US National Weather Service doesn't report wind chill, probably due to it being misleading

You're in Portland, but I wonder if that is also true in places like North Dakota or Minnesota? It would be important to know how severe the conditions are before venturing out, so I am surprised that the National Weather Service doesn't include any sort of wind chill factor in its weather reports in places where it matters?

Edited January 9, 2014 by PakledHostage
Fixed my wind chill temperature example

[DaveofDefeat]

It makes people realize its really @! cold outside, so I say mission accomplished.

[BlackBicycle]

OP, of course they are over-dramatizing the whole thing. That said, a bit of over-scaring (for a lack of a better term) the common folk is a good way to keep them safe.

The actual windchill factor does depend greatly on the clothing you are wearing. Heck, just a week ago, down where I am, a difference between wearing three outer layers which were non-windproof, and wearing just one or two that were, meant a difference between... did you expect "LIFE AND DEATH"???

Well, no. But if you spend more than a couple of hours outside, it did make a difference between catching a cold and not catching that. And of course, if you were caught outside without the chance to get warm, that becomes dangerous in about 6 hours. Which means you cannot just stay out in the wind and cold for one night and expect to stay healthy. You CAN, however, stay quite safe with enough clothing if you find a place with no wind. If you can light a small fire where you stay, you'll be good, too.

I haven't lived outside for many years. I now have a home, a family, a job, all that stuff. I do remember, however, my younger years, when I had to deal with all this weather thing. Hence my opinion.

Be safe. Find a windless place. Wear 4-5 layers at least. Light a fire when you can. You will be okay. Oh yeah, pray to the deity of your choice, it helps : )

Edited January 9, 2014 by BlackBicycle

[TimMartland]

In the UK, we don't get really cold weather. Or hot weather. It's usually just miscellaneous greyness.

[Guest]

The over-dramatization of weather here in North America I don't think is anything new. I've noticed this more and more especially with our local news media here in Arkansas. What they are trying to do is grab your attention so that you will watch their weather forecast and their commercials that go along with that. The higher the ratings, the more money they make. That seems like a pretty easy to understand formula to me.

I go to weather.gov whenever I need to know what the weather is going to be. That's not necessarily available to those who live out in the sticks though, but those folks seem to have quite a few old time tested wives-tales to get them by, along with the Farmer's Almanac, which some of those old-timey farmers still swear by.

As far as wind chill is concerned, I think consistency in reporting is as important as anything. If they keep changing the standard, you really don't know what to think.

[Kerbin Dallas Multipass]

Reporting in from Germany

Here the recent cold conditions in north america were blown out of proportion and even reliable news sources reported windchill temps as actual temperatures. They just reported the centigrade values without ever mentioning that it's "subjective" temperature.

I think we are in a deep crisis of mainstream media right now. They want emotions, faces, pictures, 30 seconds or less. Journalists see numbers as exclamation marks, let alone basics of physics.

I don't complain about the windchill factor as a way of describing climate conditions, it's just being abused to terrorize us with record temperatures to grab our attention.

[nhnifong]

(I just need to get used to using Celsius for this.

30 is hot, 20 is pleasing.

10 is frigid and 0 is freezing.

a little rhyme to help you.

[dharak1]

10 isn't that cold. I could easily wear shorts and a t-shirt in 10. 0 is pretty chilly.

[lajoswinkler]

10 isn't that cold. I could easily wear shorts and a t-shirt in 10. 0 is pretty chilly.

10°C without wind can be tolerated in short clothes for a while. If there's wind, you'd call for help quickly...

[Lohan2008]

The windchill factor is a way of describing climate conditions. TV is stupid, stop watching it !!!

I pray every night for Canada to invade USA and change your measurements to metric, like the rest of the world.

[PakledHostage]

10°C without wind can be tolerated in short clothes for a while. If there's wind, you'd call for help quickly...

But it can also be very pleasant if the sun is shining. Especially at the end of a long Edmonton winter.

And that, I think, is why Kerbin Dallas Multipass' use of the phrase "subjective temperature" is so appropriate. Wind chill temperature is subjective, while a wind chill factor is less so because it doesn't have any implied physical meaning. It is more like an extra dimension to the temperature that gives useful information but isn't as prone to misunderstanding or as volatile a fuel for exaggeration.

[lajoswinkler]

But it can also be very pleasant if the sun is shining. Especially at the end of a long Edmonton winter.

And that, I think, is why Kerbin Dallas Multipass' use of the phrase "subjective temperature" is so appropriate. Wind chill temperature is subjective, while a wind chill factor is less so because it doesn't have any implied physical meaning. It is more like an extra dimension to the temperature that gives useful information but isn't as prone to misunderstanding or as volatile a fuel for exaggeration.

You'd need to spin like meat on a stick because the part in the shade would get cold pretty fast.

Here where I live, during the winter anticyclones we have (well not often anymore, due to climate changing) temperatures in the 0-5°C range with very strong gusts of cold northern winds. The sky can be so clear, very blue, with huge visibility. The sun is quite low, very bright, but the whole experience is just freezing even if you have a jacket. The gust stops, you feel the sun burning your skin. The gust starts, you freeze like a penguin's ass. Very entertaining.

[K^2]

It sucks that people don't have a clear distinction between heat and temperature, or how the two are connected, but I don't think we should be fixing it from weather reporting side.

The purpose of a weather report is to let people adequately prepare for the elements. If a wind-chill of -40°C means that you'll be loosing heat as if it's -40°C in still air, well, you better dress yourself as if it's -40°C out there. So that really is the simplest way to report these numbers. I don't see any problem with it. They do report true ambient temperature as well, and in fact, that's usually the first number listed, so it's not like people aren't given a clue that there is a difference.

[TheDarkStar]

It sucks that people don't have a clear distinction between heat and temperature, or how the two are connected, but I don't think we should be fixing it from weather reporting side.

The purpose of a weather report is to let people adequately prepare for the elements. If a wind-chill of -40°C means that you'll be loosing heat as if it's -40°C in still air, well, you better dress yourself as if it's -40°C out there. So that really is the simplest way to report these numbers. I don't see any problem with it. They do report true ambient temperature as well, and in fact, that's usually the first number listed, so it's not like people aren't given a clue that there is a difference.

I happen to live in North Dakota right now, and it was significantly colder than usual here (it hit about -30 F or about -33 C) and the windchill was reported as -50 to -60 (depending on where you looked and where you were) this last Monday. Even the actual temperature is enough that you don't really want to go outside, and the wind makes it much, much worse.

[PakledHostage]

Sorry about the necro, but today's XKCD is somewhat relevant to this thread and I thought some of you may enjoy it:

Edited January 24, 2014 by PakledHostage
Added link to XKCD website