MY boyfriend is being ridiculous and arguing with me about humidity. Help me out?

Question

Humidity is the level of moisture in the air, correct? Or something along those lines. The higher the humidity is, the more moisture or water vapor or whatever is present in the air. Wouldn't it also be correct to say that Florida is very HUMID? We live in a tropical climate, because we are so close to the equator, meaning there is a higher level of humidity here. Amirite?

Answer 1

If you say simply'humidity' it refers to the dampness of air.It means that air contains some water vapour but it does give the amount of water vapour.If you mean 'relative humidity' it indcates the ratio (in percentage)of the amount of water vapour actually present in the air to the maximum amount of water vapour the air can hold at a particular temperature.

So,the relative humidity depends not only upon the amount of water vapour actually present.but also on the air temperature.A relative humidity of 100 percent for one particular temperature may be 90 percent for a higher temperature.Hence,you can infer that a higher relative humidity does not mean more water vapour.Florida is humid due to abundance of water vapour available by the surrounding sea surface.It does not fall under tropical zone also.Its southern tip is approximately 25 degrees north latitude and falls on temperate zone.Tropical zone covers only upto 23.5 degree north(upto tropic of cancer).

Generally relative humidity is more over poles and less over deserts.

Answer 2

Yes you are right.  Florida is a very humid state.  You don't really live in a tropical climate.  You have to go a little farther south to be in a trully tropical climate because northern florida is not really tropical at all.  Southern florida is very humid though.  

To get technical though, you actually have more humidity in cooler climates.  When the temperature goes up, the relative humidity goes down.  So if you live where it is cooler, you will experience 100% humidity quite often, but if you live in florida, you almost never experience 100% humidity.

Answer 3

You are right humidity is moisture in the air....that moisture makes the air heavy and hard to breath.  Florida is humid because of it proximity to the ocean and tropical moisture.  When you have heat and humity it is bad.  I noticed that Charleston, SC is under a heat advisory today because of extreme humity and heat.

Answer 4

The Sahara Desert is on the equator but it's not humid.

Florida is humid; it's mostly swamp surrounded by ocean.

The arctic is also surrounded by water, but has no heat.

Answer 5

Yes; humidity refers to moisture.  RELATIVE humidity also takes into account the temperature, because hot air can hold more moisture than cold air.  If you take a given amount of cool air with a relative humidity of 100% (meaning it's holding all the water it can), and raise its temperature, the RELATIVE humidity will drop, because now it's not holding as much water as it could.  If you take warm air that has a relative humidity of 100% and LOWER its temperature - you get RAIN (or snow, if the temperature is low enough), because the air can no longer hold all that water, and it has to go SOMEWHERE, so it falls as precipitation.

And yes - Florida is a VERY humid state, as are all the states along the Gulf Coast!!  I used to live in Texas, and this time of year could be miserable when the wind was bringing moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.  Now I live near Seattle, and although it can be humid from the Puget Sound and the Pacific in general, at least it's cool!

You could conceivably live in a place near the equator that WASN'T humid - like the Sahara desert.  There, you have the heat, but you don't have the moisture, so the air isn't humid, but simply DRY.  You can also experience that kind of "dry heat" in places like Arizona, and even in the Rockies under the right circumstances in the summer - the leeward side (east of the Rockies, where Denver and Colorado Springs are located) is very dry because of thin air (which also can't hold much moisture) and altitude (5,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level).

Answer 6

you r mostly right it is humid down their beacause of the amount of rain you guys get no because you r close to the eqatore its hot because you liv enear the equator

Answer 7

Correct.  There are two measures of humidity of concern.  Specific humidity and relative humidity.

Specific humidity is a measure of the amount of water for a given mass of air.  It would generally be given in the form of pounds of moisture per pounds of dry air.  Relative humidity is the term most frequently used and referneced with respect to the weather.

Relative humidity is a measure of the amount of moisture in the air in relation to the maximum amount of moisture the air can hold at a given temperature.  At higher temperatures (in tropical regions) air is able to hold more moisture.  Relative humidity is based on temperature.  At higher temperatures, the air can hold more moisture.  At any temperature when the relative humidity reaches 100% you will get precipitation (some exceptions).  If the RH is 99% at say 90 degrees.  And you put a cold drink down, the drink container will "sweat" because the colder temperature causes precipitation.

Answer 8

Yes you are right. Humidity is the level of moisture in the air. That's why you can see your breath when it's cold outside, or even sometimes when it's warm because of the moisture i the air. When you have a humidifier in a room, it puts steam into a room causeing moisture, also known as humidity. Hope I can help!

Answer 9

Generally speaking, Florida is humid, but humidity constantly varies everywhere.

Just being close to the equator has little to do with humidity.  Check out the Sahara desert.  Being near water bodies in high heat is a more likely combination for high humidity.  Florida fits that combination rather well.

Go to weather.com, type in a city and check what it's current humidity is.  The max. is 100%

Answer 10

Yep, you are indeed correct.