7 minutes ago, martin-w said:

Nothing like the humidity now.

Absolutely. Humidity is everything. The air temperature here has dropped by 6°C this afternoon but because the humidity has risen from 36% to 62% it feels hotter and more uncomfortable. Roll on tomorrow when things start to change.

It’s nearly 5°C cooler this morning than this time yesterday. The heat dome caused by the high pressure over Western Europe is shifting eastwards.

The house is still very warm especially upstairs but thankfully Atlantic air will reach us overnight and life can return to normal.

When you run a weather station these events are always interesting but even this enthusiast was getting fed up with the record high temperatures for the first month of summer.

Heck, I might even fire up the sim tomorrow! 😁

28 degrees for us, apparently. Cooler tomorrow.

22 hours ago, birdguy said:

Don't you have window air conditioners in the UK?

They have air conditioners in Europe. The problem for many is that they are extremely expensive to operate, as in general Europeans pay 2-3 times what we in the U.S. pay for electricity.

My wife's brother could only run his for a few hours a day in the summer, because if he ran it most of the day his bill went over $200/month, and he lived in a small 700 sq ft apartment with small appliances, gas stove/oven, and gas water heater. We live in a 1,500 sq ft house and only pay about $150/month in July and August with our air conditioner running 16 hours a day, plus a large refrigerator/freezer, electric stove/oven, microwave, and dishwasher.

Where we used to live our electricity cost 14c/kwh and was mostly from a nuclear plant 60 miles away. Some claim that nuclear is expensive, but that's just not true. Our electricity where we live now comes from multiple sources, hydro, nuclear, natural gas, and even coal, and costs 12c/kwh.

Dave

21 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Absolutely. Humidity is everything. The air temperature here has dropped by 6°C this afternoon but because the humidity has risen from 36% to 62% it feels hotter and more uncomfortable. Roll on tomorrow when things start to change.

The relative humidity went up mostly because the temperature dropped. An increase in the relative humidity does not necessarily mean that the amount of water in the atmosphere increased, only that the cooler air is now more saturated, which does feel worse than less saturated air, I'll grant you.

I'm only saying this because a lot of people have a misconception about humidity. An increase in the percentage number does not mean that it is more "humid", IE that there's more water in the air. It means that the air contains a higher percentage of its moisture capacity. Cool air, say at 15C, even at 90% relative humidity doesn't actually feel uncomfortable. Hot air, on the other hand, feels noticeably less comfortable the more saturated it is.

Dave

Edited Saturday at 02:09 PM2 days by dave2013

14 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

An increase in the percentage number does not mean that it is more "humid", IE that there's more water in the air.

Most of your post I can understand except this bit. If there’s more water in the air that must cause an increase in humidity. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of measuring humidity?

2 hours ago, dave2013 said:

They have air conditioners in Europe. The problem for many is that they are extremely expensive to operate, as in general Europeans pay 2-3 times what we in the U.S. pay for electricity.

Cheaper annually though because we require much less cooling.

"United Kingdom: A typical modern 2.5 kW split system costs roughly $0.25 to $0.90 (£0.20 to £0.70) per hour to run once the room is at the desired temperature. However, because the UK only experiences severe heat for a few weeks, total summer running costs are typically very manageable.

1. United States: Electricity is generally much cheaper, but Americans run whole-house central air conditioning for months at a time. Monthly bills in hot US states easily reach $200–$500+ (£160–£400+), resulting in a much higher total seasonal cost. "

Edited Saturday at 04:03 PM2 days by martin-w

On 6/26/2026 at 4:36 PM, birdguy said:

Don't you have window air conditioners in the UK?

My latitude is 53.3°N. That puts me on the same latitude as Comfort Bight in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Do those residents have air conditioning? I suspect not given the average summer temperature is 15-20°C (59F - 68F).

The recent hot spell was caused by hot air from North Africa moving into Western Europe and getting trapped by a high pressure cell. These temps are the exception, not the rule. Cooler Atlantic air arrives tomorrow when I suspect the vast majority of air-cond units will be switched off.

On 6/26/2026 at 10:36 AM, birdguy said:

Don't you have window air conditioners in the UK?

The old house I lived in before I moved to the old folks home had no central air conditioning. We had a window unit in the bedroom and another in the living room. They worked out quite well in 100 degree plus days.

Noel

Do people have those swamp coolers in New Mexico? I've seen them in Denver. They're a sort of evaporative cooler. They work well in the dry climates.

7 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Most of your post I can understand except this bit. If there’s more water in the air that must cause an increase in humidity.

I meant that more humid would literally mean more water in the air, but an increase in the relative humidty percentage doesn't necessarily mean that there's actually more water in the air.

This is just an example, not accurate figures as I'm not sure there's a direct, linear relationship- 15C air at 50% relative humidity would have the same amount of water, or "humidity", as 30C air at 25% relative humidity.

Dave

5 hours ago, martin-w said:

Cheaper annually though because we require much less cooling.

Of course, one's air conditioning expense depends a lot on location.

Those in southern Europe would spend more than you.

The $200-500 number you referenced depends highly on the size of the house and location. There are spoiled Americans with 3,000 sq ft houses in Texas who likely spend $400/month for electricity in the summer.

Dave

19 minutes ago, Mace said:

Do people have those swamp coolers in New Mexico?

We used a swamp cooler for 5 years before we switched to a refrigerated air unit.

The swamp coolers work great until monsoon season where the relative humidity goes up a lot. Another downside is that they pump very humid, but cooler, air into the house. There were times where our bed sheets actually felt moist.

They use less electricity than refrigerated units in general, but they have to be run 24 hours/day to be effective, plus they consume a lot of water. Refrigerated units cycle on and off and put out much colder air so are more efficient in that sense. Modern, efficient units don't use much more electricity than swamp coolers.

Dave

Some people use swamp coolers but the majority use air conditioning in New Mexico.

Humidity is a measure of how much water vapor a parcel of air can hold at a certain temperature. Warm can hols more water vapor than cold air. 50% humidity means that parcel of air is holding half the amount of water vapor it can hold. Lower the temperature of that parcel of air and it begins to hold a larger percentage of water vapor than it can hold until at 100% humidity it cannot hold any more water vapor and the water vapor condenses into water droplets. Dew point is temperature at which a parcel of air cannot hold any more water vapor and it starts to condense into droplets.

Have I sufficiently confused you?

Noel

9 hours ago, dave2013 said:

I meant that more humid would literally mean more water in the air, but an increase in the relative humidty percentage doesn't necessarily mean that there's actually more water in the air.

This is just an example, not accurate figures as I'm not sure there's a direct, linear relationship- 15C air at 50% relative humidity would have the same amount of water, or "humidity", as 30C air at 25% relative humidity.

Dave

I can see what you mean but the amount of water in the air is of no importance to me. What my instruments tell me is important. Currently 19°C and 77% humidity is comfortable.