Daily Archives: September 3, 2024

The dew point temperature is a measure of the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere and is also a good way to tell how uncomfortable you might feel on a hot day. Hot days and high water vapor contents are a serious health risk for some. Also, high water vapor content is a key fuel for severe thunderstorms.

There are three primary sources of water vapor that address this question: advection of water vapor largely from the Gulf of Mexico, evaporation over the Great Lakes, and transpiration from corn fields. The contribution from the Great Lakes in summer is minimal in comparison to the other factors, except maybe near the shorelines. Continue reading →