You check your weather app before heading out. It says 18°C. You dress accordingly. You step outside — and it feels nothing like 18°C. It's either biting cold with the wind cutting through you, or a stifling humid heat that makes you feel like you're walking through soup.
This gap between the measured temperature and what your body actually experiences is what meteorologists call the apparent temperature — more commonly displayed as "Feels Like."
A thermometer measures the temperature of the air. But your body's experience of that temperature is affected by several other factors — most importantly wind speed and humidity. These can make the same air temperature feel dramatically warmer or colder.
Actual temp
Feels like 38°C
with 80% humidity
Actual temp
Feels like -3°C
with 40 km/h wind
When wind blows across your skin, it removes the thin layer of warm air your body generates around itself. The faster the wind, the quicker that warmth is stripped away, making you feel colder than the air temperature suggests.
This is the wind chill factor. At 0°C with a 30 km/h wind, the feels-like temperature drops to around -8°C. That's a dramatic difference that determines whether you need a light jacket or a heavy winter coat.
In warm conditions, the opposite effect takes over. Your body cools itself by sweating — sweat evaporates, taking heat with it. But when humidity is high, the air is already saturated with moisture, so your sweat evaporates much more slowly. Your body can't cool itself efficiently, and you feel far hotter than the thermometer reading.
This is the heat index. At 32°C with 90% humidity, the feels-like temperature can reach a dangerous 43°C.
ClearCast uses the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's apparent temperature formula, which accounts for both wind chill and humidity effects depending on the conditions. This gives you the most accurate sense of what you'll actually experience when you step outside.
You'll find the "Feels Like" reading prominently displayed on the hero card for every location you search.
Always check both the actual temperature and the feels-like value before you head out. On windy winter days, the feels-like can be 5–10°C lower than actual. On humid summer days, it can be 5–10°C higher. Dressing for the actual temperature without checking the feels-like is one of the most common reasons people end up uncomfortable outdoors.