Rather than the chances of getting a sun burn on a dry sun shiny day? I seem to be easily getting sun burn here in alabama with the high humidity, as with in sandiego california, where dry heat is the norm, i hardly ever got burnt and it could be like 100 degrees out, as to where here I seem to be easily burnt.
2007-08-07 16:47:26 · 2 answers · asked by kyle w 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
No, it shouldn't make much difference.
Clouds block sunlight, but you can get sunburned on even a cloudy day, because the UV radiation can penetrate even some clouds.
With a higher humidity you will have more water vapor in the air and that will be more shielding against the radiation, but it is mostly transparent to UV so the shielding that it provides is minor.
You seem to be trying to say that the higher humidity increased your chances of getting a sunburn. You say in humid Alabama you are getting more sunburns than in dry California.
For that to happen the water vapor would have to act as a lens increasing the radiation to burn you more. That doesn't happen. Water vapor is transparent to most of the UV radiation so it won't increase or decrease it.
You could get sunburned more in humid Alabama because you are sweating more and you are sweating off your sunscreen. That is the most likely explanation.
2007-08-07 16:54:21 · answer #1 · answered by Dan S 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think I heard that this is true. This site listed just says that sunburn factor is humidity. I know that when it's muggy or humid outside the sun is killer on my eyes. It's actually worse for my eyes on cloudy days. Weird.
2007-08-08 00:04:26 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋