The National Weather Service is modifying its winter weather language. The effort is part of the Hazard Simplification initiative which is meant to improve the service’s alert system.
This month the NWS renamed Wind Chill Watches and Warnings to Extreme Cold Watches and Warnings. Hard Freeze Warnings will simply be called Freeze Warnings. Officials said the new messaging will be used when dangerously cold air, with or without wind, is possible or expected.
NWS Jackson Meteorologist Anthony Ritchie said wind chill can still occur during the Extreme Cold alerts and can make conditions more hazardous than they already are.
“Well actually it exactly hinges on the wind, extremely cold temperatures, if you have wind the stronger the wind is the colder that’s going to make the air feel,” said Ritchie.
Ritchie said the change to wind chill advisory products was made to cut down on different alerts.
“The public I think, was starting to get a little overwhelmed with the amount of products we were issuing as an agency, so in the spirit of simplifying things a little bit the windchill advisory product was kind of considered near the bottom of the totem pole,” said Ritchie.
Officials said the change addresses a common misconception that extreme cold is only tied to colder temperatures when there is wind.
According to the National Weather Service, cold weather can be deadly – people exposed to extreme cold are susceptible to frostbite and can succumb to hypothermia in minutes. People should dress in layers, attempt to cover all exposed skin, and limit time outdoors during extreme cold whether windchill is involved or not.