It's not raining. But it might as well be.
I woke up this morning before sunrise to the weather gnome telling me that it was 80°F out and the dew point was 77°. This would be a dew point described by meteorologists as "Extremely uncomfortable, fairly oppressive," or by laypeople as "I can't breathe! It's like being underwater!" (Above a dew point of 80°F, folks with bad lungs can start croaking.)
And then the sun came up.
This water can all just fall on the ground any old time it likes to, thankyouverymuch.
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12 comments:
Tam,
It's the same here in Tulsa. We are in our 5th or is it 7th straight day (I've lost track they all feel the same)of over 100 degree temps, with today's high projected at a balmy 105 (although the "heat index" has been over 100 for a couple of weeks). As you say, it seems to be the 80+ overnight temps combined with the 70+ degree dew points though that are most taxing.
I saw today that we will be getting a litle cold front for the next 3 days with highs of only 95 to 98 projected and overnight lows in the high 70's before we climb back up over 100+ highs and 80+ overnights for the next several days. I really wouldn't mind the heat if it didn't feel so sauna-like with the high humidity and ocassional pop-up thunderstorm lasting just long enough to work up a good steam.
As much as I bitch though, it beats winter!
Pffft, water is life.
Riddle me this, if the humidity is not 137% then how are the fish going to swim out of the river?
Shootin' Buddy
Same here. Right now it's 90deg, with a heat index of 105, and a dew point of 79 with 69% humidity.
Not. Fun.
Tam you can come back to Hot Lanta anytime you want hot humid and miserable weather during the summer.
Walt
Today, in the exurbs of the Greater Knoxvegas metro area (also known as my back porch), temp is 98& humidity is approximately 1,187%. I haven't seen any fish swimming out of the creek, but the crawdads are chasing grasshoppers in the back yard.
I remember one bad summer, get off work at 0100 and it was still 80-85 and humidity up around 60-65%. Just bloody awful, especially since didn't have a/c at home.
I know that when I was doing a lot of forging, it could be in the 90's with low humidity and as long as I drank a lot, I was fine; temps in the 80's- low 90's with high humidity, didn't seem to matter how much I drank, still felt like I was melting.
Chicago has been grim this year too, varying between steam bath and warm bath.
And of course my A/C is shot.
I truly sympathize, having lived in some of the afflicted places. Denver (the high one) is in low 90s and since the monsoon pattern has kicked in the RH is well out of single digits. Let me just point out that if you were to take up SCUBA, then like the fish in the sea, you would scarcely notice the water. Except that due to curious optical effects, it does make your arms shorter. And it is *possible* to shoot guns under water.
Walt:
Back when I had a GOOD job, on occasion I would have to fly from home base here in Houston to Atlanta for business. I always enjoyed the trip in the summer--Atlanta was SO much cooler and generally nicer than Houston...
cap'n chumbucket
Same crappy weather hits me about 12-15 hours after it leaves you. I blame Al Gore, since after all the money he scammed..errr received to fix Global Warming, how come it isn't fixed? THAT'S why a Million Tree Huggers didn't vote for him in 2000, 'cause they knew he couldn't deliver (And why Bush the Younger squeaked by into 1600 Penn. Ave.). So if you're glad Bush the Younger was the Prez on 9/11(like me) instead of Gore, thank Nader and the Greens. (And that's how you shift the topic off-track, just like a Beltway Politico, class. For homework, your reading assignment will be...) : )
Dry bulb temp of 80 with dew point 77 is a relative humidity of about 91%.
Which is the critical datum. The term "relative" is always applied to humidity because the amount of water a volume of air can hold is directly related to temperature. When the wet and dry bulb temps are equal, relative humidity is always at 100%. But of course that relative humidity at an air temp of, say 90 is much more uncomfortable than at 60.
Relative humidity is one of those things, like wind chill, that most people don't really understand. All they know is when the weather sucks, damn the numbers the meteorologist throws around.
I used to get to spend the summers in Houston. It was so much fun to step out of the airplane, into the jetway, and have a steaming hot, wet wool blanket thrown over my head. Being young and foolish, I adapted quickly. Not so much now - give me dry heat, which we have not had much of this summer. I also spent winters in Omaha, NE, which my friends say explains a lot . . . And yeah, Hot-lanta in summer and early fall can be almost as much fun as Houston, plus you get to trudge up and down hills!
LittleRed1
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