(Radio Iowa) – 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. Wind chill watches and warnings will become extreme cold watches and warnings, Hahn says, while the wind chill advisory is being rebranded as a cold weather advisory. 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.
