Anyone who's looked at a temperature prediction in Orange on a Saturday morning before having to head to junior sport at Waratahs or Jack Brabham Park will know to take the official forecast with a grain of salt.
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A five degree day can easily feel like minus five or less in the exposed wind, and the 'feels like' temperature - listed next to the official temperature on many websites - often bears a huge discrepancy to the 'actual temperature'.
One person who knows that as well as anyone is is Orange City Rugby Club player Tom Nell, who this year racked up his 100th first-grade appearance for the club - the majority of those either at the Lions' home ground at Waratahs or across the city at Orange Emu's Endeavour Oval.
You can wear all the clothes in your cupboard but you'll never beat the wind.
- Orange City player Tom Nell
He said Pride Park is "the coldest place on earth".
"You get the icy wind coming off the mountain, bounce off the bottom dam and destroy us when we're training, especially at 8pm when we finish," he said.
"You can wear all the clothes in your cupboard but you'll never beat the wind."
He said he paid attention to the forecast on gameday, but admitted training in winter in Orange was never going to be a warm endeavour regardless of what was being predicted.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jake Phillips said 'feels like', or apparent temperature readings involve taking humidity and wind factors into consideration, which aren't included in the "wet bulb" readings seen in official readings.
He said it was becoming more common for people to pay heed to apparent temperatures instead of wet bulb readings.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of it on official forecasts in the future," he said.
"The wet bulb temperature is becoming more of a historical legacy."
Mr Phillips said said Australian forecasts could potentially adapt to follow North American model, which include a projected apparent temperature alongside maximums and minimums, but said the official figure will never be completely abandoned from scientific and record-keeping perspectives.
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