Originally Posted by
Thulsadoom
I'm just wondering, are you saying that if it's 32F outside and the wind is blowing 15mph, you will stay just as warm on a bike as if it's 32F and there's no wind?
To be perfectly clear, this is BIKE Forums and this thread is about biking and wind chill.
From the linked article:
The language of “equivalent temperatures” creates a fundamental misconception about what wind chill really means. It doesn’t tell you how cold your skin will get; that’s determined by air temperature alone. Wind chill just tells you the rate at which your skin will reach the air temperature. If it were 35 degrees outside with a wind chill of 25, you might think you’re in danger of getting frostbite. But your skin can freeze only if the air temperature is below freezing. At a real temperature of 35 degrees, you’ll never get frostbite no matter how long you stand outside. And despite a popular misconception, a below-32 wind chill can’t freeze our pipes or car radiators by itself, either.
Directly addressing your question: Yes! If it's 35F, I'm wearing a wind blocking layer because on my bike, I'm generating a 10-20 mph wind by my motion. Regardless of winds at 15mph or still winds, a wind block layer doesn't change and I will stay just as warm with or with out winds blowing.
I'll add, once temps are around 20F, my wind blocking layers do not change ... even at temps down to -30F. One wind blocking layer is all you need, OTOH the layers of wool will increase as the mercury falls.