The effects of windchill when in the mountains

Windchill is a factor we take into account when we visit the high Sierra Nevada. We ignore it at our peril.

The effects of windchill when in the mountains

A 32km hour wind at 0 degrees centigrade gives an effective -12.5 degree "feel" to the temperature. The chart below will help in ascertaining the dangers.

Most likely from December to February each year, we can get -10 degree temperatures at 3000m on Mulhacen with winds of 56km per hour. This gives a dangerous effective temperature of -32.5 degrees! Within minutes exposed areas of the body can become iced.

I remember our recent trip to the Patagonian Icefield in November 2010.  It wasn't very cold in reality, maybe zero degrees BUT we had a 100+km/hr wind to cope with. It ended up being one of the coldest and most exposed experiences of my life. Effective temperatures were all day consistently at -25 or below. No part of the body could be exposed to the raging spindrift.

A windchill chart is shown below that shows the cooling effects of wind given relative air temperatures. It is self explanatory. Yellow shading signifies danger of icing in 1 minute. Hope you find it useful.

Windchill chart

Windchill chart