WHAT'S YOUR WEATHER LIKE - 2022

Good afternoon a lovely sunny day

 

I often wondered what The "Dew Point" meant and I am still none the wise after reading this

This time of year, you hear the StormWatch7 team talk a lot about dew points. Dew point is a measure of moisture in the air. Like temperature, it is measured in degrees. But what do the numbers mean? If you're not familiar with the readings, it can be hard to know what is considered high or low.

Understanding Dew Point
Dew point specifically measures the amount of water vapor in the air. It may feel slightly different for each person because it impacts the amount of sweat that is able to evaporate from your skin. A low dew point on a warm summer day means your sweat is easily able to evaporate (and cool your body). A high dew point, however, means your sweat will have a harder time evaporating.

Personally, I consider any dew point under 55 to feel comfortable. This seems to be the general guideline from the National Weather Service as well:

• Less than or equal to 55: dry and comfortable
• Between 55 and 65: becoming sticky
• Greater than or equal to 65: lots of moisture in the air, becoming oppressive

A dew point of 70 or above is really going to weigh you down and bump up the feels like temperature significantly.

Comfort Scale

Warmer air is able to sustain higher levels of water vapor. That's why hot summer days have the potential to bring higher dew points and the most oppressive feels-like conditions. The dew point can never be higher than the air temperature (because when the two numbers are equal condensation forms). So the spring and fall are more likely to be comfortable, and winter months will always have low dew points and dry conditions.

Relative Humidity vs Dew Point
Why do many meteorologists prefer to talk about dew point instead of relative humidity? Dew point can be easily compared from day to day and month to month. Relative humidity is a percentage based on the dew point and the temperature and therefore changes constantly.

Take this example. 90% relative humidity on a 30 degree winter day compared to 90% relative humidity on a 80 degree summer day would feel completely different. The 90% can be misleading. Relative humidity can also change throughout any given day. A reading of 90% in the morning could drop to 40% in the afternoon without a change in dew point levels.

 

It's been a lovely day here, needed to wrap up as the sun is weaker now. 9c at the moment.

 

Thames water have emailed to say the hosepipe ban is over. It was only a couple of weeks ago they were saying it would take all winter to replenish.

 

Good morning looks like a mixed bag out there a bit of this and a bit of that

 

Tell that to the winter rains!

Does all the pressure washing I'm doing at the moment increase the Dew Point?

Seaweed hung outside the door still works for me