The science says there's no difference between a dry or a wet cold. Sorry
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The wet cold versus dry cold debate happens every year. It can be a point of pride depending on where you are in Canada.
Even among weather experts, there can be disagreements on whether you can say a wet cold is worse than a dry cold.
So let's settle it — what is the science behind the wet cold/dry cold debate?
This answer? At very cold temperatures, humidity actually doesn't make a noticeable difference.
While that may come as a shock (and before the outrage flows in the comment section below), let's dive into the science.
As we know, air is made up of a number of different gases including nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide. It also contains amounts of water vapour that are constantly changing because of our water cycle. (Remember the water cycle we all learned about in elementary school?)
Absolute humidity is the mass of water vapour in a specific volume of air without taking temperature into account.
Relative humidity is what you would see on your daily weather forecasts. It looks at the concentration of water vapour in the air as a percentage of what it would be if saturated.
When we're talking about relative humidity in the summer heat, of course a 30 C day at 20 per cent humidity will feel different from one at 90 per cent humidity .
A humid heat can be excruciating, even dangerous.
The higher amount of water vapour in warm air at high humidities can make it difficult to shed excess body heat through sweat. Without that evaporation, you can get overheated very quickly.
When the air temperature drops, the relationship between water vapour and relative humidity changes.
When the air cools down enough and the relative humidity is 100 per cent, condensation occurs.
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