Dont know if I asked the question right but here goes…. There are times where the temperature is 75F and it’s cloudy and feels cool. There are other times where it’s 75F and sunny and I’m sweating outside. Obviously the sun right? But the temperature is the same? Does the sun not affect the temperature all the time. Also I’ve been in 50 degrees in a humid climate and it feels a lot colder than 30 in a dry climate. I always thought temperature was hot or cold but I feel like sometimes there’s more to it than that. Also I’m well aware of humidity and heat and also wind chill. I’m not referring to those things
In: Planetary Science
The air temperature is how fast the molecules in the air are vibrating – you can think of it as the reading you’d get if you trapped some air in a sealed test tube with a thermometer.
As you’ve noticed, it doesn’t exactly measure “how will I feel if I go outside”. That depends on the solar heating, how much humidity is in the air (which affects how much your sweat cools you), whether there’s any water droplets in the air (which affect whether your clothes/skin stay dry) and how much wind there is (which affects how effective your sweat is, *and* how much heat gets blown away from your skin).
If your weather service talks about wind chill factor, that’s a better reading of how it feels outside, but it doesn’t cover sun or humidity effects. There’s a reading called the ‘wet bulb’ temperature that factors in humidity, but you don’t see it much anymore.
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