How are the fans at the Chiefs game not all hypothermic with windchills at -27?
In: Biology
They’re not naked.
You wear enough layers and have enough wind protection you aren’t going to get hypothermia in the time it takes to go to a football game.
From my days in the Army… There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate preparation and gear.
Basically, as long as you dress properly for the expected temps and wind, you’ll be fine. Clothing is insulating, and more layers is more insulating.
Also, inside the stadium, depending on where your seats are, the wind isn’t necessarily a problem. We went to an extremely cold game last year, tailgating was brutal, but once in the stadium we weren’t too bad.
Same reason people don’t get hypothermia when they camp out in -40 degree weather… They protect themselves from the cold.
Have you guys seen the coach with the frozen mustache? lol but like everyone else said, with the insulation of thousands of people around you, combined with constant movement and at least some protection from the wind, they’re not gonna freeze to death in the ~4 hours they’re there.
They might not be, it’s not like they will announce medical diagnosis for them after the event.
Have you ever seen what cross country ski athletes wear during competition? It resembles full body spandex. They are regularly out in those sorts of temperatures, and colder.
Along with all the other comments about dressing appropriately, I’ll put this out there. My father, who is still alive today and thriving in his 80s, grew up on a rural farm in North Dakota without electricity or running water. It was definitely often much colder than this every winter and they still went outside for hours to do chores and whatnot. A little physical movement, some decent protection from the environment, a bit of “not-completely-dumb”, and you’ll be fine in some really extreme situations.
If you’re not having fun, and you’re not used to it, it SUCKS. No matter what. But in this day and age you have to be pretty dang dumb to actually put yourself in harm’s way. The weather forecast is readily available and super accurate. Warm clothing is (arguably) cheap and readily available.
Also, a stadium is naturally protected from the wind simply by its shape, there’s thousands of humans there creating heat, the stadium infrastructure itself is creating heat (from vendors, heating indoor areas, etc), so the stated temps and wind-chill are likely very different from the conditions inside the stadium.
Because people are warm blooded and they are not naked. You wear layers for insulation to keep that heat in. Plus telling and cheering creates more heat and sitting close helps.
As someone who’s been to a very, very cold Packers game, here’s the way you dress if you want to be warm: wool base layer pants and shirt, heavy jeans, insulated overalls snow pants, 2 pairs of wool socks, optional foot warmers, insulated boots, 2 long sleeve shirts, sweatshirt, heavy jacket, balaclava/big scarf, thick hat, optional but recommended hand warmers, finger gloves inside insulated mittens. One more nice thing to do is bring a piece of foam to put under your feet to insulate them from the freezing concrete.
It’s really not too bad if you’re properly prepared!
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