The Word Wyomingites Hate Is The Reason It’s So Cold

I'm pretty certain you've heard the following statement many times in your life:

"It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the wind."

There's also a superstition that if you say the 'W' word, you're going to jinx the day, and if it's not blowing, it will begin to because you said it.

READ MORE: How To Measure The Wyoming Wind Speed.

The Wyoming 'W' word is even the title of a Chancey Williams song.

This past weekend, temperatures reached the 50s, and it would've been great without the wind. The wind's impact on temperatures is known as the wind chill, but it wouldn't be a thing if the earth didn't have humans or animals.

Usually, the wind chill is only factored into temperatures below 50, but we had such high winds over the weekend that the wind played a big role in keeping it feeling like it was closer to freezing.

The wind chill is defined as the cold people and animals feel outside.

When it's cold outside, the wind chill is the heat your body loses from exposure to the wind. As the wind speed picks up, your body loses heat quicker, lowering your skin and, eventually, your internal body temperature.

That means the wind makes it feel much colder than it is. That's why keeping your skin covered when you're outside in cold temperatures is important.

READ MORE: How Does The Wind Affect Wyoming Drivers

The National Weather Service uses advanced technology and science to determine how cold it feels when the 'W' word is present. The formula for determining the wind chill uses many is a complex math problem.

The index uses the following.

• Calculate the wind speed at an average of 5 feet, the average height of adult faces.
• Use a base human face model.
• Uses the heat transfer theory based on heat lost from the body on a cold/ windy day.
• Drops the calm wind to 3 mph
• The standard for skin tissue resistance is used.
• Assumes the sun has no impact.

This NWS Chart does the work of figuring out the wind chill for you.

Here is the formula the NWS uses to determine the wind chill.

The wind chill temperature is calculated using the following formula:
Wind chill (ºF) = 35.74 + 0.6215T - 35.75(V^0.16) + 0.4275T(V^0.16)
Where: T = Air Temperature (F)
V = Wind Speed (mph)
^ = raised to a power (exponential)