Is it true that the high humidity = hot weather?

Question

If you have two places, both of them are 90 degrees, but place A has lower humidity than place B, then place A is supposed to be cooler somehow?

Answer 1

U can also have hot weather with dry days, but a better way to measure the moisture in a place is the dewpoint temperature. Dewpoint temperature is the temperature at which the air must be cooled to reach saturation point. The higher the Dewpoint the greater the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere which contribute to muggy, harmful conditions.

Answer 2

It can be 30 something degrees and have 90 plus humidity and it is not hot right. In your question it will feel "cooler" at place A because of what is called heat index or feel like temperature. But the temperature is the same so it is not cooler by that way. Any questions just email me.

Answer 3

The temperature at both places is 90 degrees, but the temperature will *feel* cooler at place A.

Where I live, there is very high humidity. The weather service will report that the temperature is say, 90 degrees, but because of the humidity the humidex is 98 degrees, ie it may be 90 but it feels like 98.

Answer 4

On the weather they talk about the heat index, which is a combination of the temperature and the relative humidity. On a hot, humid day the heat index is higher than on a hot, dry day.

Your statement isn't correct though - high humidity can occur in the middle of the winter, as when snow is falling the relative humidity is near 100%. That just means that the air is saturated with moisture.

Answer 5

People are not getting the science right on this one. It is true that you feel cooler if it hot out in dry areas due to efficient sweating. However, that does not address the true nature of the air. When air is moist, it is able to hold more heat, much more. For instance, if it is 100% humidity and 45 deg(F), you will feel much colder than if it were 30% humidity and 20 deg(F), even though the temperature is far lower.

So, to summarize, what you are talking about is heat content, not temperature. And what most are answering is about evaporative cooling, and its efficiency at different humidities. Hope this helps.

Answer 6

The answer to your first question is no, because the humidity may be high in cold weather too.

If the temperature is 90 degrees in two different places, as you describe it, then it will feel more sticky and uncomfortable in the place where the humidity is high.

Answer 7

It has to do with your skin and the transfer of heat. High humidity doesn't make it any hotter or colder than it actually is - the ambient temperature is the same. However, our skin has a boundry layer, a layer of air that is kept at a certain temperature, giving us a general 'comfort zone'. When this layer is disrupted, we feel temperatures differently than we normally would perceive. For example, when its humid out, the water in the air transfers the heat more efficiently to the skin (air doesn't transfer heat as well). Another example is cold weather and wind - high winds blast through this layer of air protecting you, causing the cold air to cool your skin faster.

Again, it all boils down to perception. At 90 degress and low humidity, it may feel relatively comfortable to us because we can deal with the heat transfering to our bodies at a slow rate. But if the humidity increases, the heat transfers faster, making it 'feel like' a hotter temperature.

Answer 8

The humidity doesn't affect how hot it IS, it affects how hot it SEEMS to us.

If it's 30 degrees with low humidity, you will sweat. The heat from the sun causes your sweat to evaporate, and that's what keeps you cool.

However, if it's 30 degrees with high humidity you will still sweat, BUT with so much water already in the air, your sweat will not be able to evaporate. So instead the heat from the sun will just heat you up and make you feel even hotter.

Hope that clears things up:-)

Answer 9

no they are both the same temperature (90)

but lower humidity feels cooler when it is hot because when you sweat, it cools your skin.

if the humidity is high you just stay sweaty.

an airconditioner works extra well in humid areas because as a byproduct of the cooling, it also removes moisture from the air!

Answer 10

It's not that 1 is cooler than the other, but if the air is drier, then the sweat on you evaporates into the air more quickly, but if the air has more moisture (higher humidity), then the sweat stays on you and you feel hotter b/c the sweat doesn't allow you to feel cool.