What is “wet bulb temperature” and why does it matter?
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Dry bulb is just the temperature taken with a dry thermometer. Wet bulb is when they soak some cloth in water and wrap that around the temperature-sensing bulb of the thermometer, so the effect of evaporation cooling the thing is taken into account – wet bulb temperature will always be lower than dry bulb because of this.
It’s important because when we sweat, usually it cools our bodies when it evaporates. When a dry thermometer gives you a very high temperature but it’s not very humid out, you might be ok because when your body sweats it will keep you cool enough. But if someone talks about wet bulb temperature instead of dry bulb, and it’s alarmingly high compared to what your body can handle, you should probably stay indoors in the AC, because staying hydrated or in the shade won’t help you stay cool. On a very humid day, there’s a lot of water suspended in the air that’s already evaporated, and more water and sweat won’t evaporate very fast, so the cooling effects of evaporation won’t help your body or a wet thermometer cool down.
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