DENVER (KDVR) — The Pinpoint Weather team says an arctic cold front will arrive in Colorado on Wednesday, bringing dangerously cold temperatures.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will each be a Pinpoint Weather Alert Day.
You may have noticed the Pinpoint Weather team showing the actual temperature on weather maps, as well as wind chill temperatures.
What is wind chill?
The National Weather Service says the wind chill temperature is how cold people and animals feel when outside. Wind chill is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by wind and cold.
“As the wind increases, it draws heat from the body, driving down skin temperature and eventually the internal body temperature. Therefore, the wind makes it feel much colder. If the temperature is zero degrees and the wind is blowing at 15 mph, the wind chill is minus 19 degrees. At this wind chill temperature, exposed skin can freeze in 30 minutes,” the NWS said.
The NWS has issued a wind chill warning for the Denver metro area, Front Range, Eastern Plains and central and northern mountains for wind chills as low as 50 degrees below zero from Wednesday evening into Friday morning.
The wind chill warning is in effect from 8 p.m. Wednesday until 11 a.m. Friday.
How quickly can you get frostbite?
This chart from the NWS shows that it doesn’t have to be super cold, and the wind doesn’t have to blow hard, to give someone frostbite in as little as a half-hour.
The wind chill temperatures during this week’s storm system could cause frostbite in as little as five minutes.
Where to see weather alerts
If a winter alert is issued for your area, whether it is a blizzard watch or warning, winter weather advisory or winter storm warning, it will always show up at the top of the FOX31 website. You can see all weather alerts here.
The Pinpoint Weather team will continue to update the forecast multiple times each day.