How's It Feel?
By Steve MacLaughlin on June 29, 2012, 5:00pm
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After two incredible days across Connecticut, the summer heat and humidity is back and here to stay through the weekend.
We all know it's hot outside, but as we often discuss, the most important number that describes how it "feels" is the dew point.
The image above shows dew points across the state as of about 5pm on Friday.
Remember...high is humid, low is dry. The summer range here in Connecticut is about 40° to 80°. Seeing numbers outside this range is extremely rare this time of the year.
Think back to two days ago. Wednesday was gorgeous. There was virtually no humidity at all in the air. The dew points that day were in the 40s and even a couple of upper 30s. That is incredibly dry air coming in from the north and northwest.
Now think back to the previous Wednesday, nine days ago. That was the beginning and peak of our first heat wave. That day we saw dew points averaging about 75° and even saw some spots as high as 80°. That is as bad as it gets in the summer. It is rarely, if ever more humid than that.
Today, with dew points in the upper 60s to around 70°, it is humid for sure, but not oppressively humid like last week. So, instead of seeing heat index (what it feels like) values at 105°, we are topping out at around 99°. Still pretty bad, but not as dangerous as it was a week ago.
Check out the next slide to see the dew points back to the west which is from where our air is coming tonight.
