“This is the coldest we’ve seen it in two decades,” Dr. Ryan Fogt, Assistant Professor of Meteorology at Ohio University and Director of the Scalia Laboratory for Atmospheric Analysis, told Athens Messenger reporter Susan Tebben in a Jan. 6 article.
Dr. Ryan Fogt
Windchill is the biggest factor in preparing for going out in the elements. According to a chart by the National Weather Service, a 15-mph wind blowing while the actual temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit can make outside temperatures feel like -19.
With that comes the chance of contracting frostbite, which can happen within 30 minutes in that situation.
While meteorologists across the state forecasted negative temperatures Monday and for Tuesday, Fogt said the fact that most of the precipitation in the area has been rain was a positive thing.
“We lucked out in the sense that we were mostly on the rain side of things,” Fogt said. “We had more snow than rain and the rain came pretty quickly and heavily, and it was absorbed by the ground (before the freezing temperatures set in.)”
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