SYYRACUSE -- With this most recent blast of cold air, wind chills have dipped below zero at times. While this is certainly nothing new to Central New Yorkers, it does bear some reminders regarding safety in the cold air.
The strict, meteorological definition of "wind chill" is the portion of the cooling of a human body caused by air motion.
Frostbite can occur when the air temperatures are cold enough and/or the wind speeds are high enough.
Whenever you hear us CNYCentral First Alert meteorologists talking about the wind chill, don’t just take those numbers with a grain of salt, they can be very dangerous.
For example, let’s use zero degrees, and a wind of 15 mph – The combination is cold enough to generate frostbite on exposed skin in less than 30 minutes.
Outside of Henninger High School on Wednesday, I caught up with Siena Halligan, a parent. She shared some of her cold-weather concerns.
"You know, frostbite. But, I do want them [children] to be warm, and we want to get out of the house and get some fresh air, and to get some exercise," says Halligan.
Trevor Robinson Gray, a student, shared some of his game-plan for beating the winter chill. "You know, just try and keep my face covered, because it gets like blistering, face is like freezing. So yeah, got to try and get like a scarf, or something."
By most accounts, it seems Central New Yorkers are ready to bundle up, and brave the wind chills this season.
