Does windchill change the actual temperature?
Like, say the temp outside registers at 36F but the wind is blowing at 6mph. Does that drop the actual temp to 30F? Not just makes it feel like it's 30F? I'm trying to figure out if the foot of snow that dropped last night an today will be gone by Tuesday if the high temp will be 37F with wind at 7mph.
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answers:
ShalloWhale say: Windchill is merely a calculation of what it feels like when the wind hits human flesh at a certain speed and at a certain temperature. It's totally relative to the individual. Without the sun, snow melts at 33 degrees or higher.
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Jay P say: Wind chill is how cold it FEELS against your skin. The actual temperature is unaffected/remains the same regardless of wind speed.
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TQ say: Wind chill does not change the actual temperature.

Wind chill indicates the 'apparent' temperature on a typical human body when the speed of the wind is taken into account. In other words .. it feels colder when the wind is blowing.

Wind chill cannot be applied to inanimate objects or living beings other than humans.
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ksgentleman70 say: Wind chill does not affect the actual temperature in any way. Wind chill is the result of 'how it feels' on your skin. When there is no wind, your body has a small atmosphere of heat above it's skin (i.e. radiating from your body). With the wind blowing, the cold removes this heat from your body and seems to make it feel colder than the actual temperature. The faster the wind, the stronger heat loss you lose from your skin surface.
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say: < Does windchill change the actual temperature >

No, windchill just increases the rate an object warmer than the air temperature (like you) will lose heat so it feels cooler.

An object sitting in the air will only cool down to the air temperature. So if it's 20F outside but is -25F with the windchill, something will only cool down to 20F if it's sitting outside. If the windchill is -25F, that object will cool down quicker to 20F than if there was no wind (and no windchill).
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