How cold is too cold for children to play outside?

Written by: Brian Neudorff

Is it too cold for the children to play outside? That is a question my wife and I have asked each other this winter when we had days where the highs were in the teens or the wind chill was near or below zero.

When it comes to the answer her and I slightly disagree. She says when the temperature is below 25 it's too cold, I think when it is in the teens. I would also have to say if the wind chill falls below zero to around 10 below zero then they should stay inside. Of course this is just the opinion of the Neudorff household. I think for everyone it is different. Many different factors come into play.

One of those factors is where you are from. If you live south of the Mason-Dixon line or in a warmer climate you may think 30 or even 40 is too cold to let your children out. Through twitter I asked this question to get some responses and one person from California told me that 45 was too cold. If you live in the northern plains like the Dakotas or Minnesota then your threshold may be down into the single digits or as cold as minus 10 below.

Of course air temperature is not the only factor in deciding whether or not your kids go outside. Of course the next is wind chill. According to the National Weather Service wind chill chart, frost bite can occur in 30 minutes or less when the wind chill starts to fall below 19 degrees below zero. From all the responses I received, wind chill was a more important factor when it came to making the decision of whether or not your kids went outside or not than just the actual air temperature. When it came to air temperature, there was a broad range of answers from 45 degrees being to cold to as low as minus 20.

Of course all school districts have rules on when children are allowed to play outside or not and you may be surprised at how low some of the thresholds are. If you are curious you may want to call your school and find out. As far as answering this question for your household, it is really up to the parents discretion. Just use common sense and most importantly check on your kids, and if yours are like mine they will come in and tell you when they are too cold.

(If you have twitter you can follow me (Brian Neudorff), Scott Hetsko & Bob Metcalfe as well as StormWatch 8 Weather by clicking on the names, if you want to know what twitter is click here)