During the winter, a breeze can make a cold day feel more uncomfortable. That’s because wind drives heat away from exposed skin faster than calm air. High winds combined with very low temperatures create dangerously cold conditions. To help people understand the risk, NOAA’s National Weather Service provides wind chill temperatures in reports of current conditions and in forecasts.
“When wind chill temperatures get into extreme ranges, exposed flesh can freeze quickly. If folks venture outdoors in these wind chill temperatures, and they are not properly bundled up, they may risk frostbite or even death,” explains Dave Kellenbenz, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Grand Forks, N.D., forecast office. While dangerous wind chills occur regularly in the northern plains, they can also affect almost any region in the United States.
As temperatures drop below freezing, exposed skin is at risk of frostbite and you become more susceptible to hypothermia. The lower the wind chill temperature, the faster frostbite or hypothermia can occur. Frostbite is the freezing of skin and underlying tissues and can cause permanent damage leading to gangrene and amputation. Hypothermia is a very dangerous medical condition in which body temperature drops and death can follow.
NOAA's National Weather Service wind chill chart and calculator shows the increasing dangers as temperature drops and wind speed increases. In cold winter months, National Weather Service weather forecast offices routinely issue two types of alerts to warn people about dangerously low wind chill temperatures.
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