This just in: it's frakkin' cold
This might be useful this week.
It's going to be a bit nippy for the next two days. The National Weather Service is forecasting that temps will stay below freezing until Thursday (projected high for that day: a summer-like 36). Wind chills will routinely be below zero.
By the way, wind chills aren't as cold as they used to be. Really. They've actually changed the way wind chill is calculated.
The old formula was based on research by two Antarctic explorers in 1945 -- they put a container of water on a pole and watched it freeze.
Humans aren't exactly buckets of water, though. So in 2000 US and Canadian researchers developed a new formula based on heat loss from skin. They also made people walk on treadmills in a chilled wind tunnel for 90 minutes. We kid you not.
The result of the new study: the old wind chill model overestimated the chilling effect of the wind. And in 2001 the wind chill formula was updated accordingly.
Whatever the number, it's still cold.
chart: National Weather Service
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Comments
When I lived in the Boston area, one of the local forecasting stations on which the Weather Channel would report was Mount Washington in New Hampshire. It wasn't uncommon to see wind chills below -100°F on a daily basis.
... said James Cronen on Mar 3, 2009 at 11:09 AM | link
Do you think it ever got this cold on Caprica?
... said celinabean on Mar 3, 2009 at 11:37 AM | link
I lived somewhere once (Omaha, NE) and we had such high winds with a -50 degree temp, that there was a 90 second frost bite warning for your immediate extremities (finger tips, toes, nose & ears). Crazy I tell ya!
... said Kari on Mar 3, 2009 at 11:58 AM | link
I lived in Minneapolis when I was young, and my elementary school would make us go out for recess until the actual temperature was 10 below-- didn't matter what the windchill was. The teachers would tell us that it'd make us hearty and put hair on our chests. I now think of them every time I buy new razors.
... said 23-Hour Alice Person on Mar 3, 2009 at 12:19 PM | link
This gives a new dimension to the word "nippons".
... said Lucy on Mar 3, 2009 at 3:32 PM | link
I'm kinda thrilled to see the use of "frakkin'." Secret dorkdom, woohoo!
... said Glenna on Mar 3, 2009 at 4:31 PM | link