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How you know the difference between dry heat and humid heat without knowing the dew point, just by feeling ?
What’s the sensation when the temperature is 36°C with a 24°C dew point and 38°C with a 5°C dew point ?
Without needing to look at data or stats, I can pick it very easily. My home town of Darwin is at 12*S. And about 1700mm ( 65"-70"" ) that falls over 6 months and then practically rainless for the rest of the year. Merely sitting outdoors for breakfast on a wet season morning, the sweat just soaks your clothes and drips on the ground. Its brutal !
My former job entailed frequent interstate travel all over the Continent, and I would fly from hot wet and humid Darwin to dry and dusty Adelaide in January. 32c and 80% humidity in Darwin was way worse than 42c and 5% humidity in Adelaide. Except in my case my lips would crack, skin dry out and I would be itchy as hell with skin flaking within 48 hours of the dry heat. Then after several weeks of that it would be home to the extreme DPs and humidity, and I would break out in a heat rash, and that's not much fun either.... lol !
So I work outdoors in heavy construction and have seen blokes drop like flies in Darwin's climate whereas those of us locals acclimatised to it still struggle be we manage. Heat stress and heat stroke are extremely dangerous in hot humid tropical climates.
Little heat with humidity feels good but increase the temperature and you feel very sticky. Also it depends upon the temperature. In some cases humid heat is better and in other cases dry heat is better. In all cases I prefer 31°C with 80% to 47°C and 4% humidity. Today in my city it is 49°C with just 2% humidity and the coast only 15 km. My areas sees extreme variation in humidity.
Without needing to look at data or stats, I can pick it very easily. My home town of Darwin is at 12*S. And about 1700mm ( 65"-70"" ) that falls over 6 months and then practically rainless for the rest of the year. Merely sitting outdoors for breakfast on a wet season morning, the sweat just soaks your clothes and drips on the ground. Its brutal !
My former job entailed frequent interstate travel all over the Continent, and I would fly from hot wet and humid Darwin to dry and dusty Adelaide in January. 32c and 80% humidity in Darwin was way worse than 42c and 5% humidity in Adelaide. Except in my case my lips would crack, skin dry out and I would be itchy as hell with skin flaking within 48 hours of the dry heat. Then after several weeks of that it would be home to the extreme DPs and humidity, and I would break out in a heat rash, and that's not much fun either.... lol !
So I work outdoors in heavy construction and have seen blokes drop like flies in Darwin's climate whereas those of us locals acclimatised to it still struggle be we manage. Heat stress and heat stroke are extremely dangerous in hot humid tropical climates.
Tropical north-west Australia and south-east coast of India are extreme examples of humidity. Most (not all) tropical areas don't get as humid as these two places. But the highest humidity in the world is not recorded in tropical regions, it is recorded in the arid coastal regions of Red Sea, Persian (Arabian) Gulf, Gulf of Aden and Sea of Oman.
How you know the difference between dry heat and humid heat without knowing the dew point, just by feeling ?
What’s the sensation when the temperature is 36°C with a 24°C dew point and 38°C with a 5°C dew point ?
Sometimes it's easy to tell, sometimes not. The often forgotten factor is wind and cloud cover, neither of which are factored into the heat index.
If that humid heat has a good breeze, that breeze will make it feel much drier than it really is. Obvious, right? Wind dries things up.
If that humid heat has lots of cloud cover as well, then it also helps to lessen the perceived heat.
If that dry heat has no breeze, then it can feel sweatier and hotter than it really is. And it will feel even hotter than it actually is if there is no cloud cover.
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Originally Posted by Hartfordd
How you know the difference between dry heat and humid heat without knowing the dew point, just by feeling ?
What’s the sensation when the temperature is 36°C with a 24°C dew point and 38°C with a 5°C dew point ?
36°C with a 24°C dewpoint, which is a heat index of around 40°C, feels awful, and can be hard to breathe if you have to exert yourself.
38°C with a 5°C dewpoint, which is a heat index of around 36°C, does feel objectively hot, but definitely better than the first scenario. You don't sweat as much, and it's much easier to breathe
In dry heat, I need lots of lip balm and eye drops and my skin feels and is visibly dry. I need to drink a lot more water in hot and dry places. In humid heat, I don't need lip balm or eye drops and can drink a little less water. I sweat a lot more in humid heat, to the point that if I'm working outside my clothes are literally soaked through and I'm dripping. After a shower, in a humid climate, I just can't stop sweating, even if I shower in cool to cold water temp.
Not sure which I prefer but I find humid heat is like a big soft hug versus the blowtorch of dry heat.
What's the difference? Dry heat feels hot. Like at a certain temperature it's literally feeling like putting your head in an oven, but in the say high 80s and with a breeze it is pretty agreeable still.
But humid heat makes the air heavy and soupy. I actually detest cloudy conditions with humid heat. It feels even more swampy because there's no sun to burn your sweat off.
Last edited by Veritas Vincit; 06-01-2020 at 04:12 PM..
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