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What Is Wind Chill?

Have you ever gone outside and it felt like it was colder than the weatherman said it was? That is called wind chill. You might hear someone on TV call it the wind chill factor, or the "feels like" temperature.

Lets pretend that the temperature outside is 30 degrees and that the wind is blowing at 20 miles per hour. The wind blowing on your skin makes it feel like it is 17 degrees outside!


You can use a chart like this one to figure out what the wind chill is (you can click on the chart to make it bigger):

Here is how you can use the chart.  Lets pretend again that the temperature is 30 degrees and the wind is blowing at 20 miles per hour.  I put a red circle around the 30 degree temperature (the top row of numbers) and a white circle around the 20 mile per hour wind (the numbers on the side):

Just follow down from the temperature and over from the wind speed and you will reach the wind chill of 17 degrees.  I circled that in purple on the last chart so you can see what it looks like:

The cold wind can hurt your skin.  It can even make your skin freeze if it gets very, very cold outside.  If the wind chill is ever inside of the darker blue or purple colors on the wind chill chart, it is not good to stay outside very long.

If you do have to go outside when it is that cold, you should wear a heavy coat, gloves, and a hat and try to cover up as much of your face as you can, like these kids are doing:

Lets see if you can remember how to use the wind chill chart.  Lets pretend like the temperature is 10 degrees and the wind is blowing at 20 miles per hour.  What is the wind chill?

First, circle the temperature and the wind speed.  I circled the temperature in red and the wind speed in white:

Then follow down the temperature row and over from the wind speed:

So what is the wind chill?  

If you said -9 degrees, you are right!  I circled it in purple on this next chart:

Great job!

Here is a page that you can print out and color if it is okay with your mom or dad.  It shows you all of the things you should wear in very cold weather:

Just like this kid and his dad are doing: