What happens to the weather when the humidity goes up? How are temperature and hunidity related? Do relative humidity and cloud coverage affect each other at all?

Humidity is a measure of the amount of water air can hold. Scientists can use the temperature to find out how much water the air can hold. The higher the temperature, the more water! For example, if the relative humidity is 100% then that means the air is holding as much water as it can at that temperature.

Think of the air as a glass and you want to know how much water it can hold. If you add more water to the glass, then the relative humidity will go up. The air acts in the same way.

When the humidity is high, there is enough water in the air to make rain or snow. Humidity can change a lot during the day. Why? A change in temperature causes a change in pressure. If the humidity was 100% and the temperature goes down, the air pushes together and squeezes out water. This is our rain and snow!

Humidity is important for clouds too because they are made of water and ice. If the humidity is high, there is a lot of water that can be used to make clouds. The larger the amount of water, the more clouds we can have.

Submitted by Drew, Misha, Jenna M., Jenna O., Courtney, Jessica, (age 14, Minnesota, USA)
(May 8, 1999)

---

Last modified prior to September, 2000 by the Windows Team

The source of this material is Windows to the Universe, at http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). © The Regents of the University of Michigan. Windows to the Universe® is a registered trademark of UCAR. All Rights Reserved. Site policies and disclaimer