Feels Like Temperature Calculator
How cold or hot it really feels, from the temperature, the wind and the humidity.
Good to know. The wind doesn’t lower the temperature. It takes away the warm layer of air your skin keeps for itself.
How it works
In plain words
Below 10 °C (50 °F) with some wind, the wind chill formula lowers the temperature as the wind rises. From 27 °C (80 °F), the heat index raises it with the humidity, because sweat dries more slowly in damp air. In between, it feels like the air temperature.
The formula
wind chill (°F) = 35.74 + 0.6215T − 35.75V^0.16 + 0.4275T·V^0.16 heat index (°F) = NWS regression in T and RH T in °F, V in mph
Worked example
32 °C (89.6 °F) at 60% humidity has a heat index of about 98.7 °F, so it feels like 37 °C. On a still day at 0 °C, a 20 km/h wind makes it feel like about −5 °C.
Sources
- US National Weather Service, Wind chill chart and formula The 2001 wind chill formula, for temperatures at or below 50 °F and wind above 3 mph.
- US National Weather Service, The Heat Index Equation (Rothfusz, 1990) The heat index regression and its adjustments for very dry and very humid air.
Sources checked October 3, 2026. 5 automated tests check its answers on every change.
About the feels like temperature calculator
The body feels heat flowing in or out of the skin, not the temperature on a thermometer. Wind and humidity change that flow, and the feels-like temperature puts a number on it. Weather services use two formulas, one for cold and one for heat.
In the cold, wind strips away the thin layer of warm air around the skin, so you lose heat faster. The wind chill, used in the US and Canada since 2001, is the temperature that would cool exposed skin as fast on a calm day. It only applies when it is cool and the wind is above walking pace; it is about faces and hands, not cars or pipes, which can’t go below the air temperature.
In the heat, the body cools by sweating, and sweat evaporates slowly in humid air. The heat index says how hot it feels in the shade with that humidity. Above about 40 °C (103 °F) heat exhaustion and heatstroke become likely with exertion; in direct sun it can feel up to 8 °C (15 °F) hotter still.
Other countries use similar measures, such as the Canadian humidex or Australia’s apparent temperature, which can give slightly different numbers. To convert the temperature itself, use the temperature converter.
Questions people ask
What is the wind chill?
How cold it feels on exposed skin with the wind: 0 °C with a 20 km/h wind feels like about −5 °C.
What is the heat index?
How hot it feels in the shade with the humidity: 32 °C at 60% humidity feels like about 37 °C.
Why doesn’t the wind chill apply in summer?
Because it describes heat loss in the cold. Above about 10 °C (50 °F), wind is mostly pleasant, and in heat the humidity matters more.