Simply put, high humidity means that there's a lot of water vapour in the air, but there's much more to it than that:
- There are three measurements of humidity. Absolute humidity is the water content of the air. Relative humidity is the percentage of absolute humidity relative to the current temperature. Specific humidity is a ratio of water vapour in relation to the total air content.
- Humidity can be measured by satellites that can detect the concentration of water in the air.
- Humidity is affected by wind and rain.
The effects of Humidity
Humidity has a great effect on the environment, and determines which plants and animals can live in certain areas. This is of particular interest to humans, who has issues with high levels of humidity.
Humans are sensitive to high levels of humidity because we use perspiration in order to regulate temperature. In high humidity conditions the rate at which perspiration evaporates is greatly reduced, and therefore, we as humans struggle to cool down.
This video covers some of the dangers of high humidity: