what the different between dew point and humidty?

Question

is it somthing to do with moisture?

Answer 1

Humidity is the amount of moisture in the air. Relative humidity is a percentage of water in the air compared to what it could hold at that temperature. Dew point is the temperature at which it would start precipitating if the temp was lowered to that temp where relative humidity is 100%.In other words, warm air can hold more water, cool air less, so if you lowered the temp on saturated air it would rain or snow if cold enough.

Answer 2

A couple of good answers so far but still a little vague. Humidity is how much moister is in the air at a given time. Dew point is the temperature at which that moister condenses.They are not the same but are connected. The higher the humidity the higher the dew point. Dew point will also change based on air pressure.

Answer 3

Dew point is the temperature at which the moisture in the air condenses and thus becomes what we call dew.

Humidity readings tell us how saturated the air is. It is given in %. A humidity of 90% means that the air is holding 90% of the moisture it is capable of holding at that moment (and you feel really really uncomfortable!)

Answer 4

Relative humidity is a representation of how much moisture is in the air RELATIVE to how much it can hold at a given temperature. The dew point is the temperature the air would have to drop to for the moisture in it to create a relative humidity of 100%

Answer 5

Simple terms.
Dew point is the temperature difference.
ie..
78/60
If the temperature is 78 then it would have to cool to 60 to condense and become rain.
Humidity is the amount of moisture atmosphere can hold at a given temperature.

Answer 6

check out wikipedia for a really good answer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_point