I just read a good piece online explaining why dew point is a better measure than relative humidity in gauging how moisture in the air affects us.
Most people think that it would be uncomfortable to be outdoors when the relative humidity is 80 percent or higher.
It’s difficult to argue that 80 percent makes for a muggy day when the temperature is 80 degrees. But 80 percent at 50 degrees isn’t quite as bad.
Dew point is a more consistent measure.
When the dew point is in the 60s, some people begin to feel uncomfortable regardless of the temperature. When the dew point is in the 70s or higher, almost everyone feels the pain.
Rarely does the dew point rise above the low 80s.
And there you have it.
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Today it is suppose to get to almost 80 degrees in Anchorage, Alaska. These poor Alaskans are dropping in the streets. They truly need to spend an August in South Texas.
July 6, 2009 at 4:03 p.m.Mike, you were mentioning the lack of humidity in El Paso. I have friends in Arco, Idaho in the high desert where the humidity hovered around 5-10%. I have seen it rain way up high and as the rain fell lower it was evaporating and there was nothing left to get to the ground. Pardner, THAT'S dry. The elevation of Arco is right at 5200 feet. The worst sunburn I ever got was in that desert. I guess it was because it was so much closer to the sun than it was in Port Authur. :)
July 3, 2009 at 2:39 p.m.LOL.....
July 3, 2009 at 1:14 p.m.VBB
July 3, 2009 at 12:56 p.m.No, I don’t know anything about the craters; back then I was still young and foolish; all my fact finding missions were in Juarez..lol
They sure do. I couldn't understand why my hotel was so hot & stuffy! I had my room temp set at 65 the whole week & it never cooled down! I went to Target, I am not a person prone to sweating, but after about 30 minutes in there I was sweating & so overheated I thought I was gonna pass out! Then I found out about about what they called air conditioning. I had never heard of such a thing! I will take my 100+ days with 80% humidity every single day over the best El Paso has to offer, at least I can cool off in a properly air conditioned building!
They also still have rock & dirt yards & big craters all over the place. Do you know the history behind the craters? I asked but nobody seemed to know what I was talking about.
July 3, 2009 at 12:50 p.m.VBB
I was stationed in El Paso for a year, dust storms and downpours of rain that the ground sucked up in a matter of minutes…I was amused seeing all the rock front lawns instead of grass.
Do they still have those “water coolers, they called air conditioners, on top of the houses?”I think that’s what they called them…That was about 42 years ago.
July 3, 2009 at 12:34 p.m.After a week in El Paso, which I found doesn't have real a/c, it is just the heat, hot is hot. I have never been so happy to come back to my humidity, at least we have real a/c to compensate.
July 3, 2009 at 12:23 p.m.If anybody tries to tell you that it's not the heat, it's the humidity, slap'em cross-eyed. IT'S THE HEAT!
July 3, 2009 at 7:45 a.m.Let me try this again . . .
I just took out a bag of trash to deposit in my jumbo bin. From door to dump was a mere twenty yards, but it was like wading through glue. It's days like this that make me thankful for finishing my degree so I could work indoors in air-conditioned comfort instead of outdoors in construction yards.
July 3, 2009 at 12:59 a.m.This comment was removed by the user.
July 3, 2009 at 12:57 a.m.SMARTEE PANTZ: There's no way the sensation of having hot peanut butter in the armpits can be any fun in the summer time. Now at 25 below, it'd be most welcome.
July 2, 2009 at 11:26 p.m.did you guys just get off the turnip truck?
July 2, 2009 at 6:45 p.m.Here is a cool link for calculating the dew point.
http://www.phymetrix.com/Software.htm
July 2, 2009 at 4:05 p.m.Thanks, I love learning something new each day, especially something that I was not looking for.
July 1, 2009 at 8:46 p.m.