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SIRC and Environment Canada Announce Wallet-Sized Wind Chill Safety Cards
Ottawa January 22, 2008 – SIRC (Sport Information Resource Centre) is pleased to announce, in conjunction with Environment Canada, the availability of wallet-sized wind chill safety cards for the sporting community.
The release of wallet-sized lightning safety cards this summer proved to be timely and very well received by the sporting community. In a continued effort to bring relevant and useful information to the sporting community, the wallet-sized cards theme was extended to include another significant winter hazard often overlooked, wind chill.
SIRC and Environment Canada in the fall discussed the idea of expanding the popular safety cards to include wind chill, and prepared cards to depict common winter sports and activities that are most vulnerable to the risk of frost bite, such as skiing, skating and jogging. In all, nearly a dozen specific activity cards were developed.
“Winter sports are a wonderful way to stay active during the cold months, and this year we are off to a great start in many parts of Canada. Wind chill is an effect we are all familiar with, but that sometimes creeps up on us to cause injuries” says Debra Gassewitz, CEO and President of SIRC. “Providing information about this dangerous winter hazard for winter sports information is another example of material designed for sport ensuring that we have tailored initiatives to address your needs for weather information.”
“The demand for the lightning safety cards proved that the format and the information was reaching the intended audience, and it made sense to work with SIRC on a similar theme for wind chill since this hazard is so real to the Canadian sporting community” says Etienne Gregoire, Environment Canada.
What is Wind Chill?
Anyone who has ever waited at a bus stop or taken a walk on a blustery winter day knows that you feel colder when the wind blows. We call the cooling sensation caused by the combined effect of temperature and wind the wind chill.
On a calm day, our bodies insulate us somewhat from the outside temperature by warming up a thin layer of air close to our skin, known as the boundary layer. When the wind blows, it takes this protective layer away-exposing our skin to the outside air. It takes energy for our bodies to warm up a new layer, and if each one keeps getting blown away, our skin temperature will drop, and we will feel colder.
Wind also makes you feel colder by evaporating any moisture on your skin-a process that draws more heat away from your body. Studies show that when your skin is wet, it loses heat much faster than when it is dry.
How Wind Chill Affects You
Living in a cold country can be hazardous to your health. Each year, in Canada, more than 80 people die from over-exposure to the cold, and many more suffer injuries from hypothermia and frostbite. Wind chill can play a major role in such health hazards because it speeds up the rate at which your body loses heat.
How much heat you lose depends not only on the wind chill, but on other factors as well. Good quality clothing with high insulating properties traps air, creating a thicker boundary layer around the body which keeps in the heat. Wet clothing or footwear loses its insulated value, resulting in body-heat loss nearly equal to that of exposed skin. Your body type also determines how quickly you lose heat-- people with a tall slim build become cold much faster than those that are shorter and heavier.
In addition, we can also gain heat by increasing our metabolism or soaking up the sun. Physical activity, such as walking or skiing, increases our metabolism and generates more body heat. Age and physical condition also play a part: elderly people and children have less muscle mass, so they generate less body heat. Sunshine, even on a cold winter day, can also make a difference. Bright sunshine can make you feel as much as ten degrees warmer.
Over time, our bodies can also adapt to the cold. People who live in a cold climate are often able to withstand cold better than those from warmer climes.
Beating the Chill
The best way to avoid the hazards of wind chill is to check the weather forecast before going outside, and be prepared by dressing warmly. As a guideline, keep in mind that the average person's skin begins to freeze at a wind chill of -25, and freezes in minutes at -35.
A simple way to avoid wind chill is to get out of the wind. Environment Canada's wind chill forecasts are based on the wind you would experience on open ground. Taking shelter from the wind can reduce or even eliminate the wind chill factor. However, you would still feel cold from the outside temperature alone.
A recent survey indicated that 82 per cent of Canadians use wind chill information to decide how to dress before going outside in the winter. Many groups and organizations also use the system to regulate their outdoor activities. Schools use wind chill information to decide whether it is safe for children to go outdoors at recess. Hockey clubs cancel outdoor practices when the wind chill is too cold. People who work outside for a living, such as ski-lift operators, are required to take indoor breaks to warm up when the wind chill is very cold.
To read this survey or for copies of the wind chill wallet-sized safety cards please visit SIRC’s online weather resources.
About MSC:
The Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) is Canada's source for meteorological information. The Service monitors water quantities, provides information and conducts research on climate, atmospheric science, air quality, ice and other environmental issues, making it an important source of expertise in these areas. www.weatheroffice.gc.ca
About SIRC:
Founded in 1973, SIRC (Sport Information Resource Centre) is a private, not-for-profit corporation based in Ottawa, Canada with over 6.5 million pages of sport research in its collection. SIRC’s clients consist of international, national and provincial sporting organizations, sports medicine associations and educational institutions committed to the development of sport. These organizations have an on-going need to educate their membership and have access to the most current research. SIRC has and will continue to be their source for academic and medical sport information.
SIRC is known worldwide as the creator of the SPORTDiscus Database, SIRC Document Delivery and author of the SIRC Thesaurus. SIRC offers services in the areas of indexing, research, communication, education and knowledge management. In addition, SIRC manages several programs that inspire, acknowledge and celebrate academic and sport excellence.
Contact :
Debra Gassewitz
President & CEO
SIRC
Tel : +1 (613) 231-7472, Ext 224
Toll Free: +1 (800) 665-6413 North America
Fax: +1 (613) 231-3739
Etienne Gregoire
Environment Canada MSC
335 River Rd RM 3707
Ottawa Ontario K1A 0H3
Tel: 613-949-8282
Fax/Télécopieur: 613-949-8283
www.weatheroffice.gc.ca
SIRC is pleased to provide the distribution of announcements however is not responsible for their respective content and translation. Please contact the person identified in each message for more information about the announcement.
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