Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 12:05:25 -0500

From: "Emerson, Jessie J" jjemerso[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]INGR.COM

Subject: Re: Wind-chill factor



I checked the AP Manual of Style (mine's old--from 1987) and it lists

"wind chill index" no hyphen, also known as "wind chill factor" no

hyphen. Does anyone have a more recent edition?



Now that I think about it, I believe I've also seen "windchill" as one

word in some reports. Any references on that?





-----

OED2 quotes the Clark Univ. dissertation where w-c (not w.c.!) was

coined in

1939; "w-c factor" is cited from 1949. I was interested in weather as

a

child and recall hearing "w-c f" on northern-US weather reports in the

late

60s. OED has citations from the UK, including one from 1985 when the

BBC

began including w-c in weather reports. Maybe plain "w-c" is a

shortening

due to frequent use in such reports (though "w-c" alone is already

attested

in the 1939 dissertation where it was coined).