Do not live near bodies of water. Also in the US south where we’ve had excessive heat warnings. I suppose the sun plays into it, but help me understand please. Thank you
In: Other
The humidity is actually going *down*, but that means all the water in the air has to go somewhere.
If you put a bunch of air in a box and measure what percent of the *stuff* in that box is water, that’s absolute humidity. Relative humidity is how much water the air can hold before no more will evaporate into the air. To be more correct, water will still evaporate into the air, but it’ll condense out of the air at the same rate. When the relative humidity goes down, the moisture already in the air is going to condense out.
During the day, the air is getting hotter and hotter as the Sun blasts energy down to the ground. That warms up the ground, which warms up the air above it. Warm air can hold more moisture than cool air. By evening, the air has gotten as hot as it’s going to get, and absorbed as much moister as it can, and now everything is starting to cool down. As the air cools, the relative humidity starts falling, and the moisture condenses out.
That feels deeply uncomfortable because it means that your sweat can’t evaporate off of you. You’re still sweating, but with the air saturated, the water on your skin just stays there, accumulating more moisture.
Latest Answers