What is dew point?

Question

what is the dew point?

Answer 1

The dew point indicates the amount of moisture in the air. The higher the dew point, the higher the moisture content of the air at a given temperature. Conversely, the dew point of humid air will be higher than the dew point of dry air.

Answer 2

The dew point (sometimes spelled dewpoint) is the temperature to which a given parcel of air must be cooled, at constant barometric pressure, for water vapor to condense into water. The condensed water is called dew. The dew point is a saturation point.

When the dew point temperature falls below freezing it is often called the frost point, as the water vapor no longer creates dew but instead creates frost or hoarfrost by deposition.

The dew point is associated with relative humidity. A high relative humidity indicates that the dew point is closer to the current air temperature; if the relative humidity is 100%, the dew point is equal to the current temperature. Given a constant dew point, an increase in temperature will lead to a decrease in relative humidity.

At a given barometric pressure, independent of temperature, the dew point indicates the mole fraction of water vapor in the air, and therefore determines the specific humidity of the air.

The dew point is an important statistic for general aviation pilots, as it is used to calculate the likelihood of carburetor icing and fog, and estimate the height of the cloud base.

Answer 3

The dew point is the temperature at which the moisture present in the air (as moisture vapour) is sufficient to saturate the air and as a result the moisture begins to condense out of the air in some form such as due.

Answer 4

The dew point is the temperature to which a column of air must be cooled for saturation (and of course 100% relative humidity) to occur. The dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures become equivalent.

Answer 5

The temperature the air must cool to for dew to form.

Answer 6

It is a combination of humidity in the air and ambient temperature that leads to the condensation of moisture to form dew.

Answer 7

The dewpoint is the temperature at which dew can form. The dew point is a good indicator of how much moisture is in the air. The higher the dew point, the more moisture there is in the air. The dew point temperature can never exceed the air temperature because otherwise the humidity would be over 100%, which is not possible. The dew point is also an indication of what the overnight low temperatures may be. The lower the dewpoint, the more the air can cool, so usually the temperature will drop to near the dew point at night. Low dewpoints also allow temperatures to warm up a lot during the afternoon because dry air heats up quickly. Humid air doesn't heat as quickly. Usually, the summer is when i look at the dew point most because it is really during warm and hot weather where the dew point indicates how humid it is outside. Let's say it's 95 degrees outside. I have prepared a little dew point chart so you can see what the comfort levels of each dew point temperature is.

Dewpoint temp:

Under 60- Comfortable

60-65- Slightly humid, but relatively comfortable

65-70- Muggy, Starts to become uncomfortable

70-75- Very humid, very uncomfortable

75+ - Disgusting

So basically the higher the dew point, the higher the heat index will be, or the hotter it will feel outdoors.