The sensation of cold is reinforced by the wind. The more it increases, the more the temperature decreases in relation to the recorded temperature. Explanations by climatologist Pascal Mormal.
By Jean-Philippe de Vogelaère
LTemperatures are not always the same. We are colder on some days than others, even if the measured temperature is the same. It is the effect of the cooling linked to the wind and therefore the feeling of our skin which is responsible for this. This phenomenon was studied by Paul Siple, a scientist with the United States Antarctic Service Expedition, between 1939 and 1941, and he called it a Windchill factor defending his doctoral thesis on the cold in Antarctica and its effects on explorers. This Windchill factor, or wind chill, also called felt temperature, represents the feeling of cold produced by the wind for a given ambient air temperature. This is what the inhabitants of Canada and the United States are currently suffering from since a polar vortex extends over this region, with temperatures of -78º C felt in some places.
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