Iowans will hear some new terminology when the winds of winter start to blow. National Weather Service meteorologist Chad Hahn says the agency is abandoning a few familiar terms in favor of language that’s a little more direct.
If the air temperature is ten-below-zero, that’s quite frigid whether there’s a breeze or not, so Hahn says it makes sense to have an alternative to wind chill advisories when it’s not windy.
The term “wind chill” isn’t going away, as Hahn says it remains very useful during the winter months to describe what the air temperature feels like with a combination of cold temperatures and sustained winds.
It’s possible we’ll hear about the heat index again in a few days, as the forecast calls for parts of Iowa to see unseasonably warm high temperatures in the low 90s by the weekend.
