Wind Chill Calculator

Wind chill: how wind makes cold feel colder

Wind chill is the apparent temperature your skin perceives when wind strips away the thin layer of warm air around your body, accelerating convective heat loss. The standard NWS/MSC 2001 formula is WC = 13.12 + 0.6215·T − 11.37·V^0.16 + 0.3965·T·V^0.16, with T in °C and V in km/h, valid for T ≤ 10 °C and V ≥ 4.8 km/h. Example: T = 0 °C with V = 30 km/h gives WC ≈ −10 °C. Frostbite risk climbs sharply below WC −27 °C, with hypothermia danger beyond that. Australia and tropical countries often use the Steadman apparent temperature instead, which also accounts for humidity and radiation.

Applications

Weather forecasting (INMET issues wind chill for southern Brazil during cold fronts), occupational safety for outdoor workers (Brazil's NR-29 cold exposure guidelines), snow tourism and skiing, mountaineering and expedition planning, layered clothing recommendations, and warnings for elderly and homeless populations during cold waves.

FAQ

Does wind chill affect objects too? No. Wind chill only describes how human skin perceives the cold. A parked car cools no further than the actual air temperature, just faster.

Why does the formula require V ≥ 4.8 km/h? Below that threshold the wind is essentially still and the standard convective model breaks down — the perceived temperature equals the actual air temperature.

Is wind chill the same as heat index? No — wind chill applies to cold conditions (wind + low T), while heat index applies to hot, humid conditions (T + relative humidity).