Wind advisory, bitter cold and wind chill defined

Good morning Augusta.

We remain under a wind advisory so go back to bed and take your cup of coffee with you.

This morning it is partly cloudy. High of 25F with a windchill as low as 5F. Windy. Winds from the NW at 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 mph.

Tonight it will be partly cloudy. Low of 14F with a windchill as low as 0F. Windy. Winds from the WNW at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph.

The readings from my own instruments are:

The humidity is 49% with a Dew Point of 6ºF and a wind chill of  -3.8ºF.

The temperature Is 20.7ºF.

We have West winds  between 16.3 MPH and 28.0 MPH.

Our Barometric pressure is 29.99 HPA 1005 and falling with a weather graphic indicating snow.   

We have a UV rating of 0 out of 16, sunset will be at 4:05 PM with Moon Rise at 10:34 pm EST and the moon phase is   Waning Gibbous.

For the pilots out there, Raw Metar readings are:

METAR KAUG 241153Z AUTO 29009G15KT 10SM CLR M07/M16 A2967 RMK AO2 SLP053 T10721156 11044 21072 50001

Visibility is 10.0 miles/16.1 Kilometers with

We had a dusting of snow again yesterday but not enough to be measurable.

You have probably heard weatherpeople on the TV news talking about the windchill factor. The windchill factor is the temperature that a person feels because of the wind. For example, if a thermometer reads 35 degrees Fahrenheit outside and the wind is blowing at 25 miles per hour (mph), the windchill factor causes it to feel like it is 8 degrees F. In other words, your 98-degree body loses heat as though it is 8 degrees outside.

The windchill factor is the same effect that causes you to blow on hot soup to cool it down. The movement of the air increases the soup's loss of heat by convection, so the soup cools down faster.

For an inanimate object, windchill has an effect if the object is warm. For example, say that you fill two glasses with the same amount of 100-degree water. You put one glass in your refrigerator, which is at 35 degrees, and one outside, where it is 35 degrees and the wind is blowing at 25 mph (so the windchill makes it feel like 8 degrees). The glass outside will get cold quicker than the glass in the refrigerator because of the wind. However, the glass outside will not get colder than 35 degrees -- the air is 35 degrees whether it is moving or not. That is why the thermometer reads 35 degrees even though it feels like 8 degrees.

 

If you want to calculate your own Wind Chill, there is a wind chill online Calculator at:

http://www.learner.org/interactives/weather/act_windchill/