Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/01/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Temperature is only one factor. Humidity is also very important. Up here in Edmonton we often hit -25C and occasionally spend sometime lower than -30C. However, it is very very dry. You just do not feel the cold like you do in a more humid climate. My hometown seldom gets below - -15C or so but there is a lot more moisture in the air. Moisture really increases the rate of heat loss. I would rather have -15C in dry Edmonton than -5C in my moist hometown. A cold moist wind really cuts through you. Naturally at really cold temps it just isn't possible to have much of any moisture in the air. -30C feels pretty much the same everywhere for this very reason. I agree that wind chill factors can be very misleading. Wind chill factors only refer to the rate at which heat is lost not to the actual temperature achieved. An actual temperature of -40C is much more daunting to operate in (clothing gets very stiff and many materials become brittle) than an ambient temperature of -25C with a wind chill factor supposedly making it the equivalent of -40C. John Collier On Jan 5, 2004, at 4:16 PM, Emanuel Lowi wrote: > Sonny wrote: > > "-5 C = Torontonians wear coats, gloves and wool hats. > Calgarians throw on a t-shirt. > > -15 C = Quebecers begin to evacuate the province. > People in Saskatchewan go swimming." > > I deeply resent the suggestion that Quebeckers -- when it comes to > winter -- are > quitters. Given that La Belle Province's territory extends northwards > to latitude 63 > degrees N. (where one finds the lovely hamlet of Ivujivik, pop. 275), > it's safe to > claim that my countryfolk are among the toughest winter survivors > ever. My wife's > grandpa, age 93, spent three days last week hunting and fishing and > sleeping in a > tent, all at well below zero. No wimps need apply here, not with -45 > and dead calm > (real northerners don't mention that namby-pamby wind-chill hooey.) > :-) - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html