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TheJeeronian t1_j6lgdvg wrote

The actual temperature is super easy to measure. Get an object, set it in the shade until it reaches a balance of humidity with the surrounding air, and measure its temperature. Humidity and wind only impact us because we're not in balance. We're hotter and wetter than our surroundings.

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CrashCalamity t1_j6lgtir wrote

We don't measure temperature based on feelings. The real temperature is often observed with thermometers (which do not transmit any moisture through the glass, so humidity is not even relevant here), relying upon heat transfer from/to the surrounding air to make the measuring medium (like liquid mercury) expand and contract.

The difference that you feel with humidity, and what the weather stations are trying to say, is that when there is more water in the air it becomes harder for you to cool off and regulate your body temperature. We rely on our ability to sweat, and for that sweat to quickly evaporate, to keep our internals at a comfortable level when we are exposed to heat.

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tdscanuck t1_j6lgzkn wrote

We *don't* measure the temperature excluding humidity. We just measure the temperature. It's really easy. Temperature doesn't change with humidity.

What changes is how hot it *feels*...when the air is dry sweating works better and we feel cooler. When the air is humid sweating works badly and we feel hotter. But the actual temperature isn't changing.

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sirbearus t1_j6lha3b wrote

You have a misunderstanding of temperature. Temperature is different than humidity and that is also different from heat loss.

To start backwards, when you are sitting at a window and the weather is cold outside, when you feel , "the cold" at the window you are actually feeling not the cold air coming in, you are experiencing heat loss from your body.

When you stick a thermometer outside it senses the air temperature and it reaches a state when the liquid inside the bulb is the same as the outside air temperature. There is no heat exchange taking place as they are in equilibrium. Unlike your body which generates heat and you will continue to feel the heat loss just like at the window.

Humidity is a measurement of the air to carry water vapor without it returning to a liquid state. It is expressed as a percentage where the current water load of the air is compared to the maximum capacity.

Capacity goes up as a function of temperature. That is why the cold months seem dryer.

I hope that helps you to understand.

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justanotherguyhere16 t1_j6lisvb wrote

There’s two types of “hot” just like there are two types of “cold”

How cold is the absolute or “actual” temperature but then they add in the wind chill factor because air moving over you cools you down quicker (or warms you up quicker but the difference in your body temp vs cold is greater than your body temp versus hot)

Now to see how hot it is there is again the actual temp and then what they call the “wet bulb thermometer test”. So they take two thermometers, one they wet a cloth that slips over the bulb of one of them and then basically whirl it a bit to see how much the water evaporates off the one to cool it down. This is how they see hot “hot” it feels. Your body cools off by sweating so the more humidity the harder to cool down and why you get soaked in sweat on humid days but dry as can be in the desert even if the actual temp is hotter.

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SoulWager t1_j6lnof4 wrote

If the humidity is less than 100%, water is evaporating from the wet bulb, and taking heat with it. If the humidity is 100%, dry bulb and wet bulb are the same temperature.

Low humidity means water evaporates more quickly, so heat gets sucked out more quickly.

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x1uo3yd t1_j6lzul1 wrote

The actual temperature is still the actual temperature no matter if it is calm/windy or humid/dry.

If the "actual temperature" outside is 1C but a strong wind makes the "feels-like temperature" -5C... then you might get hypothermia faster than you would relative to a calm day, but no water is going to start freezing because the "actual temperature" is still above 0C.

It works the same way with humidity: the actual temperature is still the actual temperature, but humidity levels can make it harder to sweat and cool yourself and so that gets accounted for when they tell you the "feels-like temperature".

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