Sunday weather column

This was my regular Sunday column. I don't understand why we overreact to the weather.

Now, when I was a kid, it was really cold
I can think of no better way to get people to stop reading your column than to start off with a description of a New Yorker cartoon.

But, I'll take the risk.

A woman is speaking on the phone in the cartoon: "We'd love to visit, but the weather mongers have us paralyzed with fear."

I thought about the cartoon a lot this week as we reported on delays and cancellations because of cold weather.

School superintendents face an impossible situation.

For years the TV weather mongers have been dialing up the fear of weather.

This week it was windchill.

You can't expect the superintendent to let the kids wait for the bus when the TV is talking about dangerous wind chill conditions.

Before I start, let me tell you that I know a little bit about cold weather.

I spent my teenage years on the fringes of the Adirondack Park in New York.

I spent many winter weekends skiing or camping in the high peaks region of the park. When we camped we usually had tents but occasionally we slept in open lean-tos.

Skiing is just downright fun and the cold was rarely a factor. We did our skiing at Whiteface Mountain. On days when it was below zero they handed out wool blankets at the chairlifts that brought you to the summit.

We never heard about windchill. The temperature was the temperature and you dressed appropriately.

But the temperature is not good enough when you need to scare people to keep them interested.

Why say it's 5 degrees when you can say the wind chill is 25 below zero?

So what does windchill mean? Here's the definition from the National Weather Service:

"The windchill temperature is how cold people and animals feel when outside. Windchill is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by wind and cold. As the wind increases, it draws heat from the body, driving down skin temperature and eventually the internal body temperature. Therefore, the wind makes it FEEL much colder. If the temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind is blowing at 15 mph, the windchill is -19 degrees Fahrenheit. At this windchill temperature, exposed skin can freeze in 30 minutes."

The key term is "exposed skin."

If you jump out of the shower, forget to put your clothes on and run out of the house when the wind chill is 25 below zero, you could be in trouble.

If you bothered to get dressed, are wearing a hat, scarf, gloves and a coat of any description - no problem. The wind chill isn't a factor.

Remember, also, that the wind has to be blowing at a constant rate - which it rarely does.

Does it feel colder when it's windy? Yes.

Is it dangerous? Not really, not unless you are naked.

If it were dangerous, skiing would be impossible.

Soon the TV weather scarers will be turning to thunderstorms.

Anything to make you afraid of the weather.

One day spring will come and you'll be home, watching TV, when the scroll will come across the screen warning you about a possible thunderstorm.

You're already in the house. What are you supposed to do?

The only thing I can think of is to turn off your TV.

It might not make you any safer, but it will make you feel safer.

I never thought I would get to the age where I started bragging about how much tougher it was when we were kids. My dad says he walked 5 miles uphill to and from school in three feet of snow year round.

I tell my daughter that it took us so long to walk to school that we had to get up a half hour before we went to bed.

Now she sits at home in the morning and waits for it to warm up a bit before she gets in the car for the a block-and-a-half ride to school.

Again, I'm not blaming the schools. They have to do what they have to do.

I'm just worried that my daughter will have nothing to brag about when she discovers that her kids have it even easier than she did.