What is the relative humidity?

Many people notice that hot muggy days seem to be much warmer than days with dry heat. One of the reasons is the moisture, the amount of water that the air holds. When air holds more water, the basic act of sweating or sweating is less effective in cooling the body. More water in the air means that less water can evaporate from the skin and most people will feel warmer. Some of the ways of humidity measured is the measurement of absolute moisture and relative humidity, which is often how people say how "wet" will be a day. This measurement is absolute humidity and absolute humidity depends on the air temperature. In many circumstances, real air has much less water than it is technically, so the term relative comes into the game. When meteorologists discuss relative humidity, they usually do so in percentage quantities, and that is the ratio of how much water the air has compared to how much water it can hold. The actual formula is the amount of water (actual steam density) divided by a total possible amountWater (saturation vapor density) times 100%. Most people see the expression of this formula often in the relative number of humidity when they watch or read the weather reports.

This percentage or relative humidity of the day can tell people how they can feel warmly in the given circumstances. The air that is dry may not feel so hot at warmer temperatures. The air at about 45% of the relative humidity will feel the most like the temperature that is outside. Everything above this level can cause the day to feel warmer than it is really at certain temperatures.

temperature perception may be affected by relative humidity in the opposite direction. On cold days, usually those below 53 ° F (11.67 ° C), higher humidity can actually get people to feel cooler than usually. Although other determinants such as wind cooling can affect "thermal feeling" and perception, relative humidity in cold weather canthat being an important factor. Mrreating weather with almost 100% relative humidity can be much colder in feeling than frosty weather with lower levels of humidity.

relative measurement of moisture cannot be the only determination of how the weather will feel; The amount of wind comes into play, especially at colder temperatures and other factors. In addition, individuals may be more or less sensitive to certain temperatures. But it is one good way to find out how a hot or cold day could feel.