Human beings, like all mammals, we are able to regulate our body temperature thanks to the hypothalamus, which is a part of the brain located in the brain that works in a similar way to a thermostat: when the temperature of the house is higher than the set point, it stops the heating to lower it.
La thermal sensation It is the sensation of cold or heat that we feel according to a combination of meteorological parameters, among which are humidity and wind. But, How is it calculated?
We will not have the same heat on a day in which the thermometer reads 35ºC and a south wind that blows at 20 kilometers per hour, than on another day with the same temperature but with no wind. Why? Because around the whole body a layer of air is concentrated, called the boundary layer. The thinner it is due to the effect of the wind, the greater the heat loss.
Human beings have a body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. However, according to diverse studies we can bear 55 degrees with normal humidity, or higher degrees in low humidity conditions. An example is saunas, where the temperature is up to 100 degrees and the people who go there go out on their own feet after the session 😉.
Now, if the humidity is high or very high then we would have problems. With 100% humidity we would only endure 45 degrees for a few minutes, as the water vapor would condense in the lungs.
How is the wind chill measured? In 2001 Canadian and United States scientists established a definitive formula that they obtained through laboratory experiments applying air jets at different temperatures and wind intensities to the face and checking the loss of heat that their skin experienced. Is the next:
Tst = 13.112 + 0.6215 Ta -11.37 V0.16 + 0.3965 Ta V0.16
So we could find out that with a temperature of 10ºC and a wind of 50km / h, the resulting thermal sensation would be -2ºC. So it is much more interesting to pay attention to our body before the thermometer to know what clothes we should wear.