Say goodbye to wind chill alerts in TN: Here’s what the National Weather Service will use instead

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The National Weather Service (NWS) is making changes to some of their winter weather alerts.

As part of their hazard simplification project, the NWS has eliminated wind chill watches, advisories, and warnings.

Formally, the agency would issue wind chill alerts when the wind chill dropped below -5°, and extreme cold alerts when the air temperature dropped below -5°.

Now, whether it’s the wind chill or air temperature, the agency said they will issue an Extreme Cold Alert.

Nashville National Weather Service Meteorologist Caleb Cravens said the change will help streamline and simplify the message they are trying to convey to the public.

“The main thing that we are trying to message here is that cold is cold. And you can still see impacts even without the wind chill. So, just trying to consolidate these together and make messaging more consistent across the whole agency,” Cravens told News 2.

Along with the simplification, they are also changing the criteria.

The Extreme Cold Advisory used to be for temperatures between -5° and -14°. Now, it will be for temperatures or wind chills between 5° and -4°.

In addition, the Extreme Cold Warning used to be for temperatures at or below -15°. Now, the warning will be issued for temperatures or wind chills at or below -5°.

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Temperatures that had the potential of being at or below below -15° were previously issued under an Extreme Cold Watch. However, under the new change, temperatures or wind chills at or below -5° will be issued under the watch.

According to Cravens, the changes to the criteria were made by looking at climate data and social sciences.

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