This week I wrote a story on the deep freeze that was set to hit our community.
As part of that assignment I called the National Weather Service in Jackson and spoke with meteorologist David Cox. During the interview I asked a question that I immediately wished I hadn’t.
I asked him how I could calculate wind chill. At first he just told me what the wind chill was going to be. When pressed further he finally spit out the formula.
I can speak two languages fluently and bits and pieces of others, but when it comes to math it’s all Greek. The longer the equation, the less I understand.
When I was in college I thought I wanted to be an architect or structural engineer. It didn’t take very many math classes before I realized I better do something else.
Most journalists I have met in my career have many talents, but math is not one of them. The quickest way to clear a newsroom is start spouting off math equations. Reporters will suddenly have interviews that need to be conducted.
Cox was nice enough to humor me, although I’m pretty sure I had him chuckle a little when he was giving me the formula. He was probably thinking the same thing I was. “There’s no way I’m going to be able to figure this out.”
Since I’m not mathematician or weatherman for that matter I think I’ll stick to the weather app on my smart phone. For anyone who wants a crack at it, here’s the formula.
Wind chill temperature = 35.74 + 0.6215T – 35.75V (**0.16) + 0.4275TV(**0.16)
In the formula, V is in the wind speed in miles per hour, and T is the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.
I think I’ll wait until summer to call the NWS again I’ll ask about heat index.
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Paul Barry is the managing editor and can be reached by email at paul.barry@vicksburgpost.com or by phone at 601-636-4545 ext. 123.