Humidity and scorching heat. It’s that time of year again when it’s not only miserably hot but also humid. When you walk outside, you find yourself drenched in sweat before you can even make it to your car or mailbox. It also feels like you have a hundred-pound weight on your chest. It gives you this heavy feeling of being weighed down and makes you feel like you can’t breathe. What is humidity, and why does it make us feel this way?
Humidity is essentially water vapor in the air that has not evaporated. Added moisture makes it feel so sticky and overwhelmingly hot when you step outside on a hot summer’s day. But did you know that this condition solely depends on the temperature and pressure measurements? That’s right. A specific environment causes moisture emission into the air. For example, tropical climates are more likely to experience higher humidity levels because of less sunlight, higher levels of rainfall, and dense vegetation.
Think about a time when you have gone on an island getaway and how you felt adapting to an increase in humidity. Did you feel sluggish and that your energy was zapped? It’s interesting how our bodies adapt, but there is still much to know about it. Here are three exciting, yet quick facts, about humidity that you probably didn’t know.
Dew Point Impact
When you wake up first thing in the morning, especially in the summer, and step outside, you may notice or even feel damp grass in your yard. This moisture is relative to the amount of water in the air at a given time. But how does this contribute to humidity? A dew point contributes to the amount of moisture by cooling the air to a specific temperature to achieve a relative humidity of 100%.
Once the humidity reaches this point, it forms liquids such as rain or fog. As the transition continues, it creates that heavy feeling in the air that makes us feel weighed down and unable to breathe. Remember, the higher the moisture in the air, the more dry and heavy it will feel outside, and the higher the probability of storms.
How Storms Contribute
Dew points are only the tip of the iceberg of what contributes to moisture in the air. As the warmer and drier air rises, it becomes cumulonimbus clouds that expand as the air dries out. The expansion results in the emergence of electrically charged ice crystals, and thus, lightning is formed. The electrical charge’s heat pressures the surrounding air, creating thunder. Once a thunderstorm emerges, the atmospheric pressure decreases temperatures and humidity, creating severe storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes.
This is more interesting than you initially thought, right? Honestly, storms are fascinating, and many people have no idea how much humidity plays a role in them. When you are a child, it is a terrifying experience because all you know is you’re experiencing several phenomena simultaneously, and it becomes a sensory overload. As adults, we have learned to become more appreciative of the role humidity plays in this.
Humidity Reduces Pollution
Thunderstorms are fascinating, but how do environmental factors like pollution affect humidity? The dryness and heaviness of the humid summer heat are miserable enough without adding a new factor to the mix. Pollution enhances the presence of moisture in the air. It increases the concentration of pollutants in the air from factories, cars, airplanes, ozone matter carbon emissions, and noxious gases such as sulfur, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides.
However, humid climates often experience a pollution reduction. This is because pollution reduces the amount of ozone particles that are emitted into the air. It does this by slowing them down and destroying some, if not all, of them. If a heatwave occurs and no humidity is present, the pollutants will become worse. This is still pretty interesting, though; it lets us know just how important having moisture in the air is to our environment.
Conclusion
Humidity is important in cooling our weather and helping keep the earth’s environment sustainable, but it can also be very daunting when carrying out daily activities. Perhaps when we think about how miserable and sticky we are during the humid summer heat, we can refer to some of these facts and appreciate their presence.
Certainly, many of you will read this and wonder, how can I appreciate something that makes me so miserable? Well, it is much easier than you think, and there is always good in finding positivity in the little things. In what ways have you learned to appreciate the world around you besides weather phenomena?
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