Which is worse, 100F & 5% humidity, 65F & 95% humidity? And what is "humidity"?

Answer 1

humidity makes it miserable outside....

i would rather be in 115 degree dry heat then 90 degree with high humidity

humidity is the amount of moisture that is in the air.

Answer 2

At one time, I would have said that 65F with 95% humidity was worse, because I have always lived in very low humidity. I heard lots of stories about "muggy" heat.

Then I visited Orlando Florida when the conditions were almost as you described, and I found it very pleasant. I guess I'm just a very flexible person.

I was also afraid that I would be miserable when my husband got transferred to a city that experiences extremes from freezing in the winter to triple digits in the summer. I have not been bothered by either extreme in the 10 years we have been here.

Answer 3

Depends what you are using it for. :)

This is what "psychrometric" charts and "enthalpy" are for.

Hot and cold feeling are just about energy exchange rates between your body and ambient air. If there is more energy in your body than the air.. the energy flows out and you feel cooler. If there is more energy in the air than your body .. the energy flows in and you feel hotter.

Enthalpy is the energy due to temperature, pressure, and accounting for humidity. Im assuming the pressure is 1 atmosphere.

The enthalpy of 100F & 5% is about 26.75 Btu/lbm
The enthalpy of 65F & 95% is about 29.25 Btu/lbm

You will therefore feel cooler in the 100F 5% humidity area.

The humidity at 65F that gives the same enthalpy of 100F & 5% is about 80% humidity.

In Phoenix it gets to be 125F and 15% humidity (it was 127F in '98). The enthalpy is around 43.5 or about 62% hotter than 100F & 5%. Thats hot!

Answer 4

I live in a country where it's regularly 100f or more in summer, I visit England where it's (usually) cooler but more humid. I wear the same clothes.

Heat per se isn't the problem. Humidity (moisture in the air) makes a huge difference to ones perception of heat.

Answer 5

I think I am right when i say it is the amount of moisture in the air.
Thus 100F and 5% humidity means it very hot and very dry, like desert conditions or the Sahara. With the other measurement, it is warm to hot but very very humid, like in a rain forest or sub tropical climate, very sticky and not very comfortable. I have tasted both and I prefer the former. ItI dries up the sinus's, made rotten in London on its past weather and its nice to be warm but not wet all over. Hope that has helped?

Answer 6

OK. The 100F and 5% is worst. Humidity is a percent of moisture in the air. You find the percentage by the following. You take your current temperature and of the moisture in the air in grams of moisture per kilograms of air. Then need to find out how much moisture can the current temperature can hold. Take the current moisture value and divide it by how much your current temperature can hold and then multiply by 100 and that gives you a percentage. Any other weather questions you can email me.

Answer 7

I like 65F and 95%. That's like the fog in my hometown. Or...wouldn't it be raining by then in 95% humidity. Humidity is moisture in the air.

Answer 8

100F is worse. If it were 65F and 95% humidity, it would be raining so that ain't so bad.

Where I'm at if humidity > temperature (not cold temp of course), then it is usually raining.

Answer 9

Humidity is what makes it 'muggy' outside. It is the amount of moisture in the air. I would much prefer it to be hot with low humidity. But thats england for you!

Answer 10

100f is worse. humidity is the amount of moisture in the air.