INDIANAPOLIS–Humidity seemed to be the weather theme across Indiana over the weekend, but the theme is different this week.
“We’re still going to have some dry and sunny weather, but it will be a lot less humid this week,” said Jason Puma, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis. “The reason for that is that the flow of the air that we’re going to be receiving is coming out of the Upper Midwest and Canada as opposed to the Gulf states.”
Puma said air from the southern states is typically more humid than air from the northern portion.
“Air in the Upper Midwest and southern Canada can be quite warm this time of year, but because there’s no big body of water up there, it’s not very humid. So when it does arrive in this area, we have those cooler and much comfortable dew points,” said Puma.
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%. The higher the dew point rises, the greater the amount of moisture in the air. That directly affects how “comfortable” it will feel outside. A higher dew point typically means it will feel less comfortable.
“We’ll probably see temperatures in the 80s across Indiana. We’ll see dew points in those comfortable 50s as opposed to those middle 60s or up around 70 degrees (where it’s been recently). That’s going to make a big difference when you’re outdoors throughout the course of the week,” said Puma.
The next chance for rain for most of Indiana is not until Friday.
“That’s when a cold front will come down from the Upper Midwest. There’s about 40% chance of rain on Friday at this time. But that’s also a few days away. We’ll have to keep on adjusting that as we get a little bit closer and we see that system heading our way,” said Puma.
Puma issued the following hot weather safety tips:
-Drink a lot of fluids
-Use sunscreen
-Take frequent breaks indoors if you feel overheated
