Is 50% humidity alot ?

Question

if its 78 degrees and 50% humidity,does that feel hot to you? Is it enough humidity to feel really warm?

Answer 1

It looks like there is a disagreement among the answerers.

I teach meteorology to pilot students and this is what I teach.

At the Standard Atmosphere (the worldwide average and the reference for all instrument calibration) the temperature is 15 degrees Celsius.

At that temperature, a cubic meter of air cannot contain more that 14 grams water as vapour.

- The absolute humidity is then 14 grams/m3

- The relative humidity is then 100%

If the temperature goes down to say 5 degrees Celsius,

- The absolute humidity is then about 4 grams/m3

- But the relative humidity is still 100% because the air at that temperature can contain more water vapour.

This is the fundament of meteorology: As temperature sinks by adiabatic effect with altitude, it reaches the Dew Point (100% relative humidity) and must condensate as a cloud.

How we feel heat and cold is very much depending on the relative humidity because the water content of the air increases both the feeling of cold and warmth.

The difference between the actual temperature and the dew point is called the spread. It is very important for us, pilots, because if the spread is very little (in fog, it is zero!) then there are chances of carburettor icing, which can be very dangerous for the aircraft. We then need to use the carburettor heater to avoid that.

Knowing the spread, which is always indicated in the METAR (airfield weather analysis for airmen) is interesting because it can also tell us where to find the ceiling of the clouds.

If, e.g. the METAR says: 18/14 then the spread is 4 degrees. The temperature fall is about 2 degrees Celsius per 1,000 feet of altitude. It means that we can expect the ceiling to be at 2,000 feet.

Answer 2

not to me...of course i live where its 98 with 90% humidity

Answer 3

50% humidity isn't that much.  That would actually qualify as an unusual day in most areas of the South.  If it's 78 degrees, humidity wouldn't make it feel that much warmer, since 78 is pretty cool, relatively.  It'd probably feel about 5 degrees warmer or less.

Answer 4

For 78 degrees, that's pretty nice. There shouldn't be much of a heat index like that. You should've been here in Arkansas a couple days ago when the temperature was like 85 with 80 percent humidity. The dew point was like 79.

Answer 5

First of all, to the first girl, it's impossible for the temp to be 98 and 90 percent humidity.  That would make the heat index over 160!   50%  humidity is not a lot with 78 degrees.  That would make the dew point be somewhere in the 50s.  That is pretty comfortable.