These days, you can’t pick up the newspaper or listen to the news without hearing the term.

“In Frenchville, the temperature hit minus 22 but the windchill was minus 54,” the Sun Journal reported Thursday. “The windchill tonight could be as low as minus 40 degrees,” the Boston Globe stated that same day.

“Windchills lower than minus 30 degrees may freeze exposed flesh in less than five minutes,” the Morning Sentinel warned Friday. But what does it really mean?

The idea for the windchill factor wasn’t created by a bunch of nerdy weathermen sitting in some office high in the sky. It was created during World War II at the request of the U.S. Army, as a way to make sure soldiers were properly dressed for the battlefield.

The formula used to calculate windchill was developed by two scientists working in the Antarctic. Their goal was to create a formula to show the effect that wind would have on the soldiers’ perception of cold.

The formula was made available to the National Weather Service in the 1970s.

In 2001 it was revised to reflect more accurate theories and testing than those used by the military. The new formula was designed specifically for humans.

– Lisa Chmelecki
Glimpse of terror

The explosion that rocked Main Street in Lewiston Monday rattled more than buildings and windows. It also shook nerves and rumbled loose fears of terrorism and global violence.

In the moments after the afternoon blast, several people in the perimeter feared the explosion was the result of something more sinister than natural gas.

“The first thing I did was look up at the sky,” said Steve Dulac, who felt the blast from his truck on Longley Bridge. “I had a really bad feeling.”

There were no hijacked planes diving toward the city. No bombs were dropping, either.

But many people who felt the blast and saw a cloud of debris rise into the air were instantly reminded of images seen on the evening news just about daily. For them, it recalled the World Trade Center, embassy bombings and explosions of hate.

“It definitely gives you a glimpse,” said Cindy Martin, who fled a nearby bank building after the explosion, “into what some parts of the world experience every day.”

– Mark LaFlamme

Smoke signals

Lewiston Fire Chief Michel Lajoie never heard Monday’s Main Street explosion that leveled a three-story building. But before his department was alerted, he saw the mushroom cloud lift over the downtown.

“Whenever I go to the high places in the city, I’m watching,” said Lajoie, who was cresting the hill beside Saints Peter and Paul Church in the moments after the blast. “I look for smoke.”

On Monday, he found some.

“I saw this huge plume,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘Did I miss a call or something?’ A second later, we were toned.”

– Daniel Hartill

Hemi sphere

There we were toddling down Whitman Spring Road, engaged in our bi-monthly farrier-day ritual: a half-hour walk (hobble) to loosen up my REALLY old mare before her 10 a.m. shoeing appointment.

I’m the 48-year-old woman, half of the duo whose extra-bulky winter clothing, sturdy build and short legs make for more of a waddle than a walk. My companion is a 35-and-a-half-year-old buckskin quarterhorse mare. A looker in her day and a former racehorse, Dove’s 100-plus horse years are showing. She’s a bit lame, pretty skinny and a little long in the tooth.

Hearing a noise, I turn to check for traffic. A small, older-model, black car is approaching very slowly. As it pulls even with me and my companion, the passenger rolls down his window and pokes his head out. The car is moving so slowly it doesn’t even disturb the long scraggly hair sticking out from his baseball cap. He flashes me a semi-toothy grin and shouts “Hey, has that thing got a hemi?”

– Heather McCarthy

Hot at the cabaret

Singer-songwriter Kenny White, who heated up the Ramada with his keyboard playing Thursday, said he was glad to see so many turn out on a bitterly cold night. Back in New York City, people wouldn’t have gone outside in such weather, he added.

He was right. It was an enthusiastic turnout of 310 hardy folks for the first in L/A Arts’ 2004 Cabaret Series.

White opened for Dave Mallett, who sang a number of favorites and audience requests, including his best-known lyrics, “Inch by inch, row by row/Gonna make this garden grow.” Recorded by many artists such as Arlo Guthrie and John Denver, in addition to Mallett himself, his “Garden Song” hints of warmer days to come.

– Marj Patrick