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That's pretty impressive. I don't remember the last time Atlanta had such a strong drop. With this front we're not even supposed to drop below freezing which is quite surprising given Nashville was in the 20s today. Even Houston has been/will be colder than us.
I personally remember that day and the days before it well. On January 3 we precipitously (not quite as sharply) dropped to 4F in Manhattan amid fairly heavy snow. That was a Friday if I recall correctly. Then the January 6-7 contretemps. We hit 4F, a temperature rarely reached in midtown New York City twice in a few days, separated by the 55F reading.
That's pretty impressive. I don't remember the last time Atlanta had such a strong drop. With this front we're not even supposed to drop below freezing which is quite surprising given Nashville was in the 20s today. Even Houston has been/will be colder than us.
"Yep, go further North to Denver if you want to see wild weather patterns. It can be -40 and next week 75."
Some guy said this in the bipolar southern weather thread. Denver has a record low of -29, no where near -40 and 75 is near the record highs for the 3 winter months. Sure, this could happen, but probably not in the same year, almost definitely not in the same month or absolutely not within a week.
I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but it completely irks me when people use heat index/wind chill values as if it were the actual temp. "OMG it was -40 last night" when in reality it was -20 F with a -40 F wind chill (still damn cold, but to say "it was -40" is horribly inaccurate).
I find wind chill and heat index incredibly too "dumbed down" for people. All you really need to know how hot or cold it "feels" is temperature, wind speed, and dew point. If it's 5 F outside, with a 30 mph wind speed, you know the 30 mph wind speed is going to make it feel colder than a calm 5 F.
Likewise, if it's 90 F with a 77 F dew point, you know it's damn humid outside and that 90 F is going to feel quite uncomfortably hot.
^ That's annoying as ****, and it indicates that some people fundamentally misunderstand what the temperature actually is: it is an intrinsic quantity of the air which is independent of other factors like wind or sunlight or pressure, and its definition goes all the way down to the molecular level. In sharp contrast, the "wind chill" and "heat index" values just come from contrived formulas and are designed to dumb down the idea that certain factors can affect a "typical" human's perception of heat or cold.
That's still technically not below freezing though that is a little cooler than I thought. Then again, I live about 20 miles out of the city to the NE and our forecast low was only about 34/35. I know the NW suburbs were expected to be colder.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shalop
^ That's annoying as ****, and it indicates that some people fundamentally misunderstand what the temperature actually is: it is an intrinsic quantity of the air which is independent of other factors like wind or sunlight or pressure, and its definition goes all the way down to the molecular level. In sharp contrast, the "wind chill" and "heat index" values just come from contrived formulas and are designed to dumb down the idea that certain factors can affect a "typical" human's perception of heat or cold.
One of the things I hate is seeing thermometers completely in the sun with no proper shading and someone treats that as a heat index or even worse, the actual temp. I remember seeing some sports announcer showing some analog $5 thermometer in the sun showing 120 and then saying that that was the feels like temperature.
We had one less dramatic in terms of number of degrees involved in January 1994. On January 16, at 5:00 p.m. it was about 13F. It rose to 44F by January 17, 1994, and dropped to 15F by 5:00 p.m. on January 18, 1994 (link).
I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but it completely irks me when people use heat index/wind chill values as if it were the actual temp. "OMG it was -40 last night" when in reality it was -20 F with a -40 F wind chill (still damn cold, but to say "it was -40" is horribly inaccurate).
I find wind chill and heat index incredibly too "dumbed down" for people. All you really need to know how hot or cold it "feels" is temperature, wind speed, and dew point. If it's 5 F outside, with a 30 mph wind speed, you know the 30 mph wind speed is going to make it feel colder than a calm 5 F.
Likewise, if it's 90 F with a 77 F dew point, you know it's damn humid outside and that 90 F is going to feel quite uncomfortably hot.
Happens all the time around here. The meteorologists are always sure to include the wind chill in their forecasts, and that's the number everyone talks about.
"Oh, it was -30 out last night! It was crazy!" - everyone around here
"It was only -6 last night " - me
You're right, though. Those formulas are too dumbed down and don't really mean anything. 12°F with a 10 mph wind doesn't "feel" like -15 or whatever crazy number they've come up with. It feels like 12, just with a moderate wind. And even when it was "OH MY GOSH IT'S NEGATIVE THIRTY OUT WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! " this past weekend, while it was frigid outside, it wasn't anything we haven't experienced before, and it wasn't even that extreme; the meteorologists just love to sensationalize weather events into being the "WORST HEAT WAVE/BLIZZARD/THUNDERSTORM EVAR!!!!!!!!!1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shalop
^ That's annoying as ****, and it indicates that some people fundamentally misunderstand what the temperature actually is: it is an intrinsic quantity of the air which is independent of other factors like wind or sunlight or pressure, and its definition goes all the way down to the molecular level. In sharp contrast, the "wind chill" and "heat index" values just come from contrived formulas and are designed to dumb down the idea that certain factors can affect a "typical" human's perception of heat or cold.
110%. This is exactly what people fail to understand. The actual temperature does not depend on wind, humidity, sunlight, or anything else. 60°F with strong sunshine is the same exact temperature as 60°F with full overcast and strong wind. Just because one "feels" like 70 and the other 50 is irrelevant.
The wind chill and heat index are indeed no more than contrived formulas. They bear no significance on how a car works, what temperature something melts/boils at, or anything other than human perception. Real meteorological variables include temperature, cloud cover, humidity, precipitation type and rate, etc. These can be quantitatively measured and do not require calculation based on a contrived and meaningless formula.
I've been on this rock for 24 years, all of which has been in pretty similar climates. To insinuate that I don't know what 5°F feels like and to say that it actually feels like -20 is just plain stupid, in my opinion. 5°F is 5°F, not -20°F. -20 is -20. Period. End of sentence.
While many misuse wind chill and heat index, there are some good uses for each. Windchill is connected to frostbite and heat index can be used to gauge risk to overheating.
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