On 2/24/2015 8:56 PM, Leon wrote:
On 2/24/2015 8:21 PM, Just Wondering wrote:
On 2/24/2015 2:33 PM, Leon wrote:

What wind chill really does is cool things down faster to what the
actual temperature is rather than if there was no wind at all.

If the thing being affected by the wind has liquid water on it, the wind
will cause the water to evaporate, causing it to cool even below the
ambient temperature. That's how evaporative (swamp) coolers work.
Before cars had air conditioners, my dad had a canvas water bag he would
hang in front of the car's radiator. As he drove down the road, the
water would slowly seep through the sides of the bag, and the wind would
evaporate the water from the surface and cool the water in the bag.

But wind chill is only a human "touchy feeley" thing. So most people
don't douse themselves with water as they get ready to go out into the
cold wind.

But people do perspire, and if perspiring skin is exposed to the wind,
the resulting evaporation will cool the person off. It's an actual
cooling effect, and under the right conditions can cool the skin below
the ambient air temperature.