Brainstorm: Relatively Speaking |
 Dave Thurlow, Host |
It's time for a new Brainstorm here on The Weather Notebook. Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow for the Mount Washington Observatory. To answer our Brainstorm, you're just going to have to remember this phone number: 1-888-RAIN-001. Don't worry, I'll run that around again in just a minute.
But first - pretend for just a moment if you will that it's mid winter. It's a cold and beautifully clear, crisp morning. Pretend too, that you just happen to have the radio on much like you do now, except that you're not listening to the Weather Notebook. I know, I know, it may be painful to even think of such a thing, but just for the sake of this exercise pretend you're listening to the weather report instead. You hear that the temperature is only 15 degrees Fahrenheit - brrrrrrr- and that the relative humidity is 95 percent. "Wait a second" you pretend to say, how can that be? I thought 95 percent relative humidity meant hot and muggy! What! Is that guy misreading his instruments, is he confused, befuddled?
Ok, ok enough with the pretending. Let's get to our Brainstorm question. Is it even possible to have 95 percent relative humidity in the winter? If you think it is and you care to offer some kind of explanation, then tell it to the answering machine at 1-888-RAIN-001. That's 1-888-RAIN-001. You can also check out our website which is mountwashington.org. Thanks to Subaru and the National Science Foundation.
Email your answer.