When Houston’s KPRC-TV, Channel 2 News, dropped the dewpoint readings from its on-air weather forecast (though the web site still has it), some meteorologists got rather exercised over what they saw as an attempt to dumb down the populace while making television news consultants (yes, they have those) happy.
I confess I have never understood the utility of mentioning the dewpoint. But Bob Rose says for athletes, for one, it has more value than knowing the relative humidity, for which I also confess I have only a vague appreciation.
"I hear a lot of people in the summer talk about the humidity being around 35 percent and thinking the air is dry when in fact it’s not," Bob writes. "It’s just that the temperature is so high, the air can hold more water vapor, so the humidity reading ends up being lower."
He says the dewpoint is actually an easier concept since it doesn’t change with the air temperature.
"Basically, anytime the dewpoint gets in the 60s, or higher, the air is going to feel pretty humid. And the closer the air temperature and dewpoint readings are, the more humid the air will be."
Houston is a very humid town, so you’d think they’d want to figure this out. But not KPRC.
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