What Should I Wear Right Now?
Right now the number that matters is the current feels-like temperature outside your door, not today’s forecast high, which may already have passed. For a trip under about twenty minutes that reading is usually the whole answer. For anything longer, check whether the temperature is climbing or falling first, because the layer you choose now is the one you will be carrying later.
Why "right now" is not the same question as "today"
A daily forecast reports a high and a low. Neither is likely to be the temperature on your doorstep at this moment. If it is 8am, the high is hours away and irrelevant to the walk you are about to take; if it is 7pm, the high has already gone and dressing for it will leave you cold.
So the two questions want different inputs. Planning the day wants the range and the shape of it. Stepping outside now wants the current observation, corrected for wind and for whether you will be in sun or shade — and then one look ahead, only as far as you will actually be out.
The current reading, and the two corrections it needs
Start from the feels-like temperature, not the air temperature. Air temperature describes the air; feels-like describes what that air does to a person standing in it, which is what you are dressing against.
Two corrections apply on top of it:
- Wind, sustained rather than gusting. Below roughly 50°F moving air is the dominant effect, because it strips away the thin warm layer your body holds against your skin. Wind chill covers this specifically.
- Sun or shade. Full sun on a still day can add close to ten degrees to how the same air lands. A route that runs along a shaded street is a different decision from the one you make looking out of a sunlit window.
How long you will be outside decides the layer
Duration changes the answer more than most people expect, because comfort at minute one and comfort at minute sixty are different targets. Read the row for the time you will actually be out, not the time you intend to be.
| Time outside | Around 50°F | Around 35°F |
|---|---|---|
| 5 minutes | Whatever you have on | Coat, nothing else needed |
| 20 minutes | One light layer | Coat plus gloves |
| 1 hour | Light jacket, closed shoes | Coat, gloves, hat |
| 3 hours or more | Jacket, plan for the temperature dropping | Coat, gloves, hat, covered ears, warm socks |
Under about twenty minutes, the current reading really is the whole answer and a trajectory check is wasted effort. Past an hour, it stops being optional. Dressing for a short walk covers the shortest case in detail.
When the current reading is not enough
- You are going out at the turn of the day. Around sunrise and sunset the temperature moves fastest. Leaving at 6pm in September, the reading can drop several degrees before you are back.
- You are about to move. Walking briskly generates noticeable heat within about ten minutes. Dress for minute ten, not for the doorstep.
- Rain is falling and you are in cotton. Near 50°F a soaked cotton layer removes more warmth than a thin jacket adds. You need something that sheds water, not something that insulates.
- You will be indoors most of the time. A jacket carried all day is worse than a sweater kept on.
- The day is still swinging. If the range is wide, the doorstep answer expires quickly — see dressing when the temperature swings.
How WhetherWear works this out
WhetherWear reads the live observation for your location rather than the daily summary, reconciles the current hour against it so every surface shows one number, then checks wind and precipitation, reads how the temperature moves across the hours you will be out, and adjusts for your activity and for whether you have told it you run warm or cold. The full method is published.
Related questions
Should I dress for the current temperature or the forecast high?
For a short trip, the current feels-like reading. The forecast high is a property of the day, not of the moment you step outside, and depending on the hour it may be several degrees away in either direction or already past.
How much can it change in an hour?
Usually a few degrees, but around sunrise and sunset it moves fastest, and a passing front can shift it much more. If you will be out longer than about an hour, check the direction of travel before choosing a layer.
Why does the feels-like number differ from the one on my phone?
Apparent-temperature models differ, and some report the modelled value for the hour while others report the live observation. WhetherWear uses one value everywhere it appears so that no two screens in the app disagree.
What if I am only going out for five minutes?
Then whatever you have on is usually fine above roughly 50°F, and below that a coat alone is enough without hat or gloves. Short exposure is the one case where the trajectory genuinely does not matter.