Fitness and Comfort Index

By now, most of you have heard me tear apart the "Fitness and Comfort" index on weather.com. My main issue is that, despite the ridiculous heat and humidity as of late, the index remains at "moderately comfortable". So, I decided to look up how it was calculated... this was all I could find. At first glance, the calculation seems totally legitimate- comfort is related to temperature, precipitation, and humidity. Ok, so how did they come up with "moderate" for a record-breaking day of triple digit temperatures with no less than four warnings in effect? Honestly, I have no idea... but I figured that unless I could suggest a better algorithm, I should keep my mouth shut. So, here goes:

• As temperature rises above 50 degrees, people can expect to see slower times. Cold temperatures can have an adverse effect on performance also. I would recommend replacing the temperature metric with the "perceived temperature" (i.e., windchill for the winter and heat index in the summer). This eliminates the humidity metric, as its already included in the "perceived temperature".
• Precipitation is tricky. When it's cold out, rain is awful. However, when it's ridiculously hot and humid already, the rain is kind of refreshing (so long as there's no lightening). So, I would recommend subtracting some amount from the "perceived temperature score" based upon the % chance of precipitation and the current temperature.

Figure this is pretty simple... basically, a look-up table... even I could program that. Having said that, there are probably numerous flaws in my methodology, but at least it's no longer "moderately comfortable" to exercise in the 100+ degree heat! #20