![]() “That’s a more buoyant air mass, and that’s due to the molecular weight of a wet air mass versus a dry one. With those higher dew points, that’s adding higher moisture to the atmosphere, that’s adding more energy,” said Lisa Kriederman, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Boulder. “(A 60 degree dew point) is pretty wet for this area. There are other key factors as well, specifically wind shear, lift and upper-level winds, but a high dew point means there’s lots of low-level moisture in place to develop strong storms. In essence, it comes down to this: moisture is one of the main bits of fuel a thunderstorm needs to grow and sustain itself. The limited number of times we’ve wound up with a 60 dew point or higher, it’s generally led to strong to severe storms for the metro area. ![]() But in Denver, we only see a 60-degree dew point a handful of times a year, simply because Colorado is located in a far drier part of the country. For the eastern two-thirds of the country, a 60-degree dew point in the middle of the summer is considered a relatively comfortable air mass. If you just moved to the area and know a thing or two about weather, you might know that a 60-degree dew point would actually be considered to be pretty dry in say, New York, Chicago or Atlanta, at least in the summer months. High impact weather could include anything from large hail to damaging winds to flash flooding.ĭenver averages about 14 days a year with a dew point of 60 degrees or higher, based on historical data from 1996 through 2018. Among those 10 days, nine of those have featured “thunder”, according to hourly weather observations at Denver International Airport – including two notable high impact weather days in July. Through Thursday, 10 days so far this year have featured a dew point of 60 or above in Denver. If you see a dew point of 60 or above in the morning, it could be a good signal that high impact weather might be on the way later that day. While that second sentence might not have quite the poetic prose of the first, a 60-degree dew point has proven to be a number with solid predictive power so far this summer. ![]() In Denver, you could re-write that to say: 60 degree dew point in the morning, bikers take warning. The old mariners’ weather saying goes like this: A red sky at morning, sailors take warning. The higher the dew point, the muggier it will feel.Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu So if you want a real judge of just how "dry" or "humid" it will feel outside, look at the dew point instead of the RH. It would feel much more "humid" on the 80 degree day with 50% relative humidity than on the 30 degree day with a 100% relative humidity. For example, a temperature of 30 and a dew point of 30 will give you a relative humidity of 100%, but a temperature of 80 and a dew point of 60 produces a relative humidity of 50%. Many times, relative humidity can be misleading. This directly affects how "comfortable" it will feel outside. The higher the dew point rises, the greater the amount of moisture in the air. If the air were to be cooled even more, water vapor would have to come out of the atmosphere in the liquid form, usually as fog or precipitation. At this point the air cannot hold more water in the gas form. The dew point is the temperature the air needs to be cooled to (at constant pressure) in order to achieve a relative humidity (RH) of 100%.
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