Humidity: a sticky situation

Summertime in Missouri means pop up thunderstorms, heat, and humidity. Have you ever heard of “air you can wear” or “air so thick you can cut it with a butter knife”? These terms are usually attributed to hot and humid days here in Missouri, like the ones we’re expecting later this week. 

Humidity is a term used to describe the amount of water vapor in the air. Dew points are the temperatures that the air needs to cool to before it cannot hold more water. 

The problem with humidity is that the warm, moist air does not allow sweat to evaporate off your skin. When the dew points are low, moisture, such as sweat, can evaporate much easier as the air is far away from saturation. Saturation defines when the air is holding the max amount of water it can.

To sum this up, we typically align higher dew points with more humid days as the air is holding more moisture. Humid days cause for the heat index to be higher as warmth is trapped near your body. 

With the forecasted highs to be in the 90s with dew points in the 70s to close the week, you’ll need to take special care to hydrate yourself and stay out of the heat for as long as possible. Reporting for the Stormtrack Insider, I’m meteorologist Maddie Est.