.... it was -42 Celcius with windchill....
Now, this is one of my hot buttons these days......windchill pretty much don't mean shit!
Actually, it does mean something: windchill is what air feels like on
bare skin if there were no wind. That is, -10° windchill could actually be +15° with some wind. Not many of us go out stark naked on cold days and nights. Windchills can be useful if you know at what temperature frost bite occurs on uncovered faces, fingers, etc, but most folks have no idea about frost bite temperatures.
Why does it bug me? Because these days many in the news media report windchills
only.......I suspect because the number is lower and sounds more dramatic. It is so misleading. Often reporters don't even mention if they are quoting actual air temps or windchills, so you don't know. Some will report both, but air temps and wind speed would be more useful.
Even more insidious are the millions of folks who actually believe that somehow, in spite of physics, wind actually causes air temperature to lower (as measured with a thermometer); in fact, if moving air did anything to air temperatures, it would raise them ever so slightly. Thermometers could care less how hard the wind is blowing.
If you wear clothes, especially a wind proof jacket, windchills pretty much mean nothing. Not that wind doesn't make clothing less effective, but please just give me air temps and wind speed. I can figure out the rest!
