29. A year later, my new resolution is to resume posting about the weather in northern Wisconsin. And I have just the news to use in a new relaunch.
Experiment: Wind Chill Warnings will be replaced by Extreme Cold Warnings
The past criteria for windchill headlines:
Wind chill advisory: Wind chills -25º to -39º.
Wind chill warning: Wind chills -40º and colder.
At the end of last winter, new criteria will be used in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin in a trial to gauge effectiveness in communicating bitterly cold temperatures to people who work and recreate outside.
The new threshold for this winter:
Extreme Cold Warning: air temperature or wind chill value below -35º.
I like the idea of illustrating how the human body needs extra protection from bitter cold, whether there is a wind or not, and that threshold for this part of the world has been placed at -35º.
However, I can see some confusion, especially since this change doesn't seem to have been broadcast widely enough.
The bottom line reinforced by this change is that
BITTER COLD = DANGER
So keep an eye out for the new Excessive Cold Warning headline this winter!
As a reminder, here is the chart showing how the lower the temperature and the higher the winds, the less time it takes for exposed skin to freeze.
