I get really annoyed when I hear weather forecasters continue to announce what the relative humidity is. Why am I annoyed at this? Because it doesn't tell you squat about how comfortable you will feel!

The relative humidity value is RELATIVE to what the temperature is. Everyone knows if the relative humidity (RH from here on out) is 80% on a 100° they will be very uncomfortable. But what about an RH of 80% on an 80° day? The cooler the air gets, the less moisture is can hold, so there won't be the same level of moisture in the air on an 80° day with an RH of 80% as there is on a 100° day with an RH of 80%.

The number I want all of you to start paying attention to is the dew point. Say it: Dew point! Dew point! Dew point! Dew point!

It is really easy to use also. You basically only need to remember one number no matter what the temperature is. That number is 65°.

Any dew point above 65° you can consider uncomfortable.

Any dew point below 65° you can consider comfortable.

Below is a little table that breaks it down a little further, but as a rule of thumb you can use the 65° dew point as you listen to weather reports:

75+....Extremely uncomfortable 
70-74..Very humid, quite unfomfortable 
65-69..A bit uncomfortable for most people 
60-64..Ok for most, but everyone begins to feel the humidity 
55-59..Comfortable 
50-54..Very comfortable 
<=49...Feels like the west, very pleasant, a bit dry to some

A good example of how much more useful dew point is over RH is our local 3 PM forecast. They predict the temperature will be 86° and the RH will be 54%. That doesn't sound too bad, right? Wrong. By looking at the dew point, which is predicted to be 67° and above the rule-of-thumb 65° dew point, you now know that it is going to feel a little sticky.