What is “wet bulb temperature” and why does it matter?
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To measure humidity, you can use either a psychrometer or a hygrometer. The wet and dry bulb refers to a psychrometer.
The dry bulb is just a normal thermometer. The wet bulb is a thermometer that lets water evaporate off of it. That process cools the wet bulb down until it is too cool for water to evaporate. This gives us the wet bulb temperature, also known as the dew point.
With both the temperature and the dewpoint, you can calculate the relative humidity, but the dewpoint alone can tell us a lot. A high dewpoint means the air is very humid and could indicate rain is on the way. A low dewpoint tells us the air is very dry, and able to absorb a lot of water.
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