NOTES and CORRESPONDENCE the Steadman Wind Chill
DECEMBER 1998 NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE 1187 NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE The Steadman Wind Chill: An Improvement over Present Scales ROBERT G. QUAYLE National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina ROBERT G. STEADMAN School of Agricultural Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia 19 February 1998 and 24 June 1998 ABSTRACT Because of shortcomings in the current wind chill formulation, which did not consider the metabolic heat generation of the human body, a new formula is proposed for operational implementation. This formula, referred to as the Steadman wind chill, is based on peer-reviewed research including a heat generation and exchange model of an appropriately dressed person for a range of low temperatures and wind speeds. The Steadman wind chill produces more realistic wind chill equivalents than the current NWS formulation. It is easy to determine from tables (calculated by application of a quadratic ®t in both U.S. and metric units) with values accurate to within 18C. 1. Introduction freezing water to actually freeze under various wind and temperature conditions rather than any human physio- Many scientists have noted de®ciencies in the current logical model of heat loss and gain under equivalent wind chill scale (e.g., Court 1992; Dixon and Prior 1987; conditions. The major consequence is that water, not Driscoll 1985, 1992, 1994; Kessler 1993, 1994, 1995; having a metabolic heat source and not being appro- Horstmeyer 1994; Osczevski 1995; Schwerdt 1995; priately attired in human clothing, produces colder wind Steadman 1995). There was a session partly devoted to chills (for given wind and temperature conditions) than this topic at the 22d Annual Workshop on Hazards Re- those experienced by live, clothed humans.
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