Wind Chill Calculator

Wind chill is the apparent temperature describing how cold it feels outdoors. Your body warms a thin layer of air right next to your skin. When the wind blows, it sweeps this protective warm layer away, accelerating heat loss and making you feel much colder than the actual air temperature.

The official National Weather Service wind chill index is only defined for air temperatures at or below 50°F (10°C) and wind speeds above 3 mph (4.8 km/h). At higher temperatures or calm winds, the chilling effect is negligible, and wind chill equals the air temperature.

No. Wind chill only affects living organisms that produce heat. While wind will cool water pipes down to the actual air temperature much faster, it cannot cool them below the air temperature itself. If the air is 35°F, the pipes will not freeze, regardless of how strong the wind is.

At a wind chill of -18°F (-28°C), frostbite can occur on exposed skin in about 30 minutes. As the wind chill drops lower, the timeline shrinks rapidly. At -35°F (-37°C), it can take just 10 minutes, and at -60°F (-51°C), skin can freeze in under 5 minutes.

The wind chill formula uses wind speed measured at standard anemometer height (33 feet or 10 meters above the ground). Since wind speed is typically lower right at face level, the formula adjusts for this to estimate the cooling effect you actually feel.