The high country woke up feeling more like Alaska this morning. Wind chill temperatures were 16 degrees below zero at the Grand Canyon Airport Tuesday morning. The Flagstaff Airport had a wind chill temperature of -13 and Show Low was 6 degrees below zero.
These temperatures do not represent the actual air temperature but rather the wind chill temperature. The "wind chill factor" as it's commonly referred to is how cold it "feels" to the human body when the air temperature and wind interact on the body. The human body is constantly giving off heat. The combination of cold air and wind make the body feel colder than it really is.
The National Weather Service Windchill Chart shows how temperature and wind speed are considered to determine the wind chill temperature.
For more about the wind chill chart go to nws.noaa.gov/om/winter/windchill.shtml.
For example, if the air temperature is 20 degrees with winds at 20 mph, then the human body would feel like it is only 4 degrees.
Wind chill temperatures can be dangerous and even deadly. According to the chart, a person outside in a temperature of 20 below zero with a wind speed of 35 mph would experience frostbite in just five minutes.
