For instance, right now on the east coast the heat and humidity have been killer. If I were to go to the other side of the US, to the west coast, why does the temperature feel much more tolerable?
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Your body gets rid of heat by sweating. But it’s not the sweat itself that cools your body; it’s the sweat evaporating into the air. Like any other liquid that evaporates into a gas, sweat requires heat to evaporate, and it gets that heat from your body. The sweat pulling heat from your body and evaporating is what cools you down.
If the humidity is high, your sweat doesn’t evaporate into the air as easily. Less sweat evaporating means less heat being pulled from your body, which makes it harder for your body to cool down. The humidity makes the temperature feel hotter because your body is not able to cool itself as effectively.
This is why it is so dangerous to do intense outdoor activities during period of high heat and humidity. Your body can’t get rid of enough heat in high humidity, so the heat builds up and can lead to a dangerous heat stroke.
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