Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ To all our Rowan Free Press readers carping about the cold in Rowan County with a measly 10 degrees forecast for early Thursday morning. Welcome to the polar he-man winter of Madison, Wisconsin. We were a balmy -10 degrees below zero Wednesday morning with a wind chill factor of -20 below to -34 below zero. It will likely get colder here in January and February. Yesterday’s winter advisory for Madison:
National Weather Service Winter Advisory for Madison, Wisconsin
Wind Chill Advisory from 1/7/2015 12:00:00 AM to 1/8/2015 12:00:00 PM
…WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON CST
THURSDAY…
A WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON CST THURSDAY.
* TIMING…BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILLS WILL DEVELOP AROUND
MIDNIGHT TONIGHT AND LAST THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING.
* WIND CHILL VALUES…20 BELOW TO 34 BELOW ZERO WITH THE COLDEST
VALUES WEDNESDAY MORNING.
* IMPACTS…WIND CHILLS AT THIS LEVEL COULD CAUSE FROSTBITE ON
EXPOSED SKIN IN 30 MINUTES OR LESS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS
WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN
FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.
IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS…MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND
GLOVES.
Wisconsin isn’t the coldest place I’ve ever been. I spent a year and a half in Huron, South Dakota on the Eastern plains where the North winds never stopped howling. One night back in the winter of 1965 the temperature dipped to -59 degrees below zero and the wind gusted around 40 mph. The wind chill factor was somewhere in the vicinity of -99 degrees below zero. I stepped briefly outside to see what “remarkable cold” was all about and stamped my boot on the dorm lawn. It rang like a very large church bell due to the ground’s molecules being packed so tight from the extreme cold. Now THAT’s cold.
Bundle up and keep warm.
