Wind chill can also affect inanimate objects as well, but an object outside can only cool down to what the air temperature is, and will never go below that. As an example, if the temperature outside is -5F, and the wind chill is -31F, an object outside can only cool down to -5 but will cool down at the same rate as if it were -31 outside.

After an unusually warm December, the temperatures took a nosedive, dropping, below freezing on Monday and Tuesday morning. To top it off, those strong north winds made it feel even colder than what our thermometers might have shown.

With winter weather settling over Michigan, here's what you need to know about exposed skin as the temperature drops and winds pick up.

National Weather Service officials issued a cold weather advisory in effect until 2 p.m. Tuesday for portions of central, east central and northeast Illinois as well as northwest Indiana. Officials said dangerously cold wind chills may reach as low as 28 below zero causing frostbite to those exposed to the frigid temperatures in as little as 30 minutes.

Dangerous cold arrives Monday morning in Chicago. The brutally cold morning brings wind chills of -20 to -25 degrees. A cold weather advisory is in effect until noon. The core of the polar air will settle across the Chicago area Monday night into Tuesday morning.

Temperatures fell to near 20 degrees on Sunday morning with wind chills in the single digits. As a result, the Cold Weather Advisory will remain in effect until 9 a.m. Monday.