why does high humidity make temperature feel more extreme?

Question

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?

In: 3

Answer 1

Your body’s ability to regulate its temperature in high heat relies on sweat. Sweat lowers your body temperature by evaporation, which removes heat from your body. Sweat evaporates more easily when there is less moisture in the air, or low humidity. High humidity prevents efficient evaporation, and sweat will drip off you instead.

So there is some validity to the adage “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”