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Wind-chill, also called wind-chill factor is the perceived decrease in air temperature felt by the body on exposed skin due to the flow of air. The first wind chill formulas and tables were developed by Paul Allman Siple and Charles F. Passel working in the Antarctic before World War II.

After more than 55 years, a new wind chill formula was developed and presented in 2001. The new formula uses advances in science, technology, and computer modeling to provide a more accurate, understandable, and useful formula for calculating the dangers from winter winds and freezing temperatures.

The new formula significantly raised the wind chill temperatures from the old method. In other words, the new and more accurate values are not as cold as the old values. A temperature of minus-30 degrees with a 40 mph wind gave a wind chill value of minus-100 degrees from the old chart but only minus-71 degrees under the new wind chill chart. Similarly, a temperature of minus 45 degrees with a wind speed of 45 mph yields a wind chill of minus 125 degrees on the old chart and minus-93 degrees on the new chart.

Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016 was cold — very cold, and very windy too. The official temperature in Malone reached a low of minus-25 degrees and along with winds as high as 30 mph, wind chill values reached minus-45-50 degrees.

Apparently the NY Daily News contacted the Wild Center in Tupper Lake about the wind chill on Whiteface Mountain. Temperatures, wind speeds, and wind chill values on Whiteface would have been much lower than in Malone, but not as cold as was reported from wind and temperature values obtained from the Atmospheric and Science Research Center on Whiteface Mt. Using Whiteface temperatures and wind speeds, the old wind chill charts were used to determine wind-chill values at minus-114 degrees. This “news story” about the extreme cold on Whiteface went far beyond the NY Daily News. I had several people tell me about the negative-114 degree wind-chill on Whiteface, which led me to seek out how this value was arrived at. My investigation, which included a discussion with Andy Nash, Meteorologist in Charge of the Burlington NWS office, led to the fact that the correct value should have been around minus-84 degrees, still extremely cold, but not in negative triple digits.

Jen Kretser from the Wild Center put out a correction to the NY Daily News after realizing she used the wrong charts. The correction may not have been published, as the corrected values weren’t as sensational as the incorrect values.

If you look at the two accompanying wind chill charts, old and new, you can see a significant difference. In fact, on the new chart, in use since 2001, there are no values in negative triple digits. The coldest value is minus 98 degrees from a temperature of minus 45 degrees along with a 60 mph wind. Don’t always believe everything you read or hear.

Having been a cooperative observer for the National Weather Service since 1982, I realize that sensationalizing weather information is attention-getting. The colder (or hotter), the better. Media like to use wind-chill values because it makes everything seem colder. You should also know that wind-chill is applicable only to exposed skin — it makes no difference to a car engine, for example.

Hopefully this gives you a better understanding of the meaning of “wind-chill” and how it is used. To use it in every media forecast is just not prudent, in my opinion.