Night-time relief?
Does night bring relief from the Florida heat?
That’s a “yes” if you are counting on the Fahrenheit scale … about 15ยบ worth. Night time lows dip into the 70s on most summer nights.
But don’t be fooled by those numbers:
The true metric is humidity. It increases into the 90 percent range – keeping the air “very warm” … and sticky.
That’s why if you listen outside in Florida on a quiet summer night, among other things, you’ll hear the low rumble of running air conditioners.
In that way, yes, night does bring relief from the Florida heat.
3 comments:
Hey Bob, I grew up without AC.... Wonder how I did that????? ha ha.... But--to be honest, George and I don't run our AC very much up here on the Cumberland Plateau.
When it gets horribly hot and humid, we will break down and turn the AC on. But--usually that is in August. This year, however, we have already had it on for one weekend. GADS!!!
Betsy
I'm always impressed that the weather is still sticky warm at night in Florida. In our desert climate, nights are always cool.
I have always liked to use Dew Point rather than Relative Humidity to describe comfort level. The relative humidity in Fargo, ND is often 90% or higher in the morning, just like Naples. Granted we are usually cooler, but it is still not the "humidity" that is necessarily making you uncomfortable.
We have all heard the old saying “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity”, but what we really should be saying is “it’s not the heat, but the dew point”. Relative humidity is exactly that, relative.
Relative Humidity is high nearly every morning of the year and then drops off and is at its lowest point during the late afternoon hours when the high temperature occurs. Relative Humidity can be as low as 40-50% and many will still complain about the "humidity".
Too me, A better way to know what your comfort level will be is to watch the dew point and remember that dew points in 50s, you’re very comfortable, moving through the 60s, most feel slightly uncomfortable (especially folks in the northern tier of the U.S.), but when the dew points are in the 70s no matter what the temperature, nearly everyone is quite uncomfortable trying to stay cool.
As I write this it is 87˚ in Naples, certainly not hot, but the Dew Point is 79˚ and that is extremely high (even in Florida it will rarely go much higher than 82˚). Relative Humidity is 70% with that temperature and dew point. Granted, Dew Points and Relative Humidity do go up and down together, but the Dew Point gives a better measure of the absolute moisture content of the air and therefore your body's ability to evaporate sweat to stay cool. As your body can still easily stay comfortable with Relative Humidity of 70% if the Dew Point would be lower.
Bob, I need to get you to visit here in the Summer when it is often 80 with dew points in the 50s... in other words, your winter (and of course, I need to visit you in the winter!)
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