My own little world and a project
Sometimes I think I live in my own little world. Joking, of course. Or maybe not.
This morning, I checked on the weather and all the local weather stations said the humidity was around 56%. And I thought...huh, wonder why everything feels damp if the humidity is only 56%. I opened the back door and closed it again really quickly because the air outside felt like a wet blanket. What the heck.
That got me to thinking that maybe today was a good day to acquire a hygrometer. Because this was driving me a little nuts and I had nothing to satisfy my curiosity.
While out and about I stopped by a couple of stores to see if anyone had a small hygrometer. I found a little digital one for a pittance and brought it home. Of course, one never knows how accurate these things are, but I plugged a battery in and let it go. Within an hour the thing was telling me that my household relative humidity was 77%. No way. Couldn’t be right. How in the world could my household relative humidity be 20 points higher than the several local hygrometers? So...quite possibly my little cheapo digital one was miscalibrated.
Well, now what to do, since my curiosity was burning holes in my brain by this time.
Why...make my own, of course. My Dad used to have a wet/dry thermometer set-up and a chart to figure out the relative humidity. They’re about as accurate as you can get. Low tech, too. I could sort of, kind of make one. If I could find a thermometer. I dashed over to K-Mart, thinking there might be a thermometer in the kitchen section. Shows what I know. All the kitchen thermometers are digital now. That wasn’t going to work. I wandered around the house repair and hardware section...no thermometers.
And then I passed by the summer clearance (already!) table and saw some swimming pool thermometers. They were encased in a plastic tube with a cute little blue rubber dolphin head on the top. I figured that I could tear it apart to get the thermometer out. And since it was designed for water, all the better.
I brought it home and tore it apart, wrapped a piece of gauze around the thermometer bulb, and plunked the gauze in water. Well, first I built a little hygrometer stand, roughly on the order of this cardboard one.
It’s not much to look at, but this is what I ended up with.
I forgot to mention that the swimming pool thermometer displayed the same temperature as the three other household thermometers, so that was a good start. After the thermometer’s gauze sat in the water for a while, the little red line dropped to a little more than 74°, but not quite 75°. The house temp was 80°. According to the chart on the above referenced page, that put the house relative humidity at....77%. (It later dropped to about 68%, bounced around for a bit, and is now heading toward 80%.)
Okay, so I guess the house really was almost moist enough to start growing clouds today. Still doesn’t explain why my relative humidity was so much higher than the several different weather stations in the area. By a rather significant amount. I must live in a special house. Opening the door only made the humidity go up to 79%, though. So maybe it’s just a special neighborhood. A different world or something. I don’t know how to explain it, but I’m pretty sure that my two hygrometers were telling me the truth. It was humid today. Where I live...on this street...in this house. It wasn’t my imagination.
LOL. It was humid out yesterday. I have two home made hygrometer’s. The tank on my toilet, if I dry it and moisture builds up on it and puddles all over the floor to the point that my floor becomes a lake, then it’s humid! And it did. So it was. And my body. I can feel the slightest bit of humidity. I will never get used to it again lol.
Posted by justme on 07/02/08 at 05:10 AM
If it makes you feel any better, the digital weather station across the room tells me that at this moment the humidity is at 92% outside my window and the temperature is at 73 degrees.
I offer you my sympathy, Gary. Those humid days wear thin. Yesterday was supposed to be one of those rare dry days here. Oh ha ha. The previous 4 days had been 85%, 100%, 97%, and 92% relative humidity, respectively, with a one day reprieve and another string of mid to upper 90% humidity days. Bleh and again Bleh.
J, I’m never going to get used to this humidity either. I didn’t used to mind quite so much when I ran the AC all the time. Well, those days are over. Now I mind the stinkin humidity, which seems to be pretty near constant. As I’ve mentioned before...this climate is pretty darned inhospitable as far I’m concerned.
Thanks, dk. It was fun. Took my mind off that which I was measuring for a while. ;)
Today the local area weather stations tell me that the relative humidity ranges anywhere between 44% and 68%. Well lucky them. My two hygrometers tell me that my humidity stands at 80%. Maybe they need to get their hygrometers checked. Either that or I need to find out where they’re located so I can move next door.
Posted by Kate on 07/02/08 at 11:05 AM
Seems to me that temps and maybe humidity measurements are typically taken from the local airport monitoring station, at least here. If that’s the case where you are…
No, these are individual weather stations owned by individuals who are tied into the weather geek internet network. I don’t pay much attention to what the nearest airport stats say...it’s in a completely different microclimate, much further inland.
Posted by Kate on 07/02/08 at 03:05 PM
and what is it telling you today? Got to be high........maybe if the sun (what’s that??) came out and dried things up a little. This weather is getting just a little old........and I never liked thunderstorms and we have had some real “winnahs” the last few days. Enough.Already.
Happy 4th! Was planning on going into the city a little later on, but unless the weather changes significantly, we may not. DAMN! ;( And if you can’t tell, I am whiney today. I hate this crap.
Only good thing about the day is we beat the Yankees last night soundly and are tied today so far!
Your weather and mine must be quite different today, Cyn. We’ve had bright sunshine, about 74°, and the humidity is a comfortable 64%. At my house, on my street, anyway. It feels lovely after the last several days. It was utterly miserable yesterday. The house humidity reached 91% last night and well, the outside was just dripping. I came very, very close to hauling the dehumidifier out and letting it eat electricity to its heart’s content.
And....YAY Sox!
Posted by Kate on 07/04/08 at 02:00 PM
Lucky you, we had NONE of that until 6PM--lasted all of about 20 minutes, then dark again. (Note to self: look up definition of rain forest!) My favorite weatherman swore last night it would be bright sun and 90 today.........dark, gloomy, damp and generally gloomy is what is outside my door. Am glad I did not pick this weekend to go to the Cape!
After you responded yesterday, I did go to the live webcams in your area and put them on my screen so as I wandered by I could look and see what sun and blue sky looked like..... ;) Hope your day is a pretty one......we were planning to go to your neck of the wood tonight, wander around and then go for dinner, but unless it clears substantially I guess we won’t!
PS--How’s the little bird??
We’ve had a hazily sunny day, with some clouds, so far. Only about 72°. It has been nice. Seems as if the clouds are starting to thicken a bit, though. Maybe we’ll have rain by the end of the day. Just in time for a cookout I’m invited to. I’ll take my rain gear, just in case.
I’m only listening to the weather man with half an ear. They’ve all been SO wrong lately, that it would probably be better to simply take what they say and plan for the exact opposite.
Posted by Kate on 07/05/08 at 01:17 PM
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Reminds me of the scene in the Exorcist, where the detective tells the grieving mother, that “if some scientists hadn’t wondered about some mold.... we wouldn’t have penicillin today...”
In other words, one makes due with what one has and often, the results can be remarkable. I admire your ingenuity!