PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — I think we can all agree that the Pacific Northwest is not what you would call oppressively humid. We aren’t going to feel the kind of humidity you get in Florida or Chicago that makes you want to take a cold shower multiple times a day. However, when our dew points increase by 16 degrees in a 24 hour period, you will take notice. Rather your hair will take notice. See my tweets below.
The heat is back on today with small differences. Daytime highs will be in the mid 80’s with a few clouds, instead of the upper 80’s/90 as it was Wednesday. Wind will be mostly from the northwest and dewpoints will climb to the upper 50’s. So it may again feel just a touch humid. The coast and a few foothill locations will start the day mostly cloudy. Did you know that prior to yesterday our last 87° day was June 26? The temperature at PDX has not been higher since then. We haven’t even hit 90 yet for this month, but we did in June.
Weekend: Low 80’s and mostly sunny Saturday. By Sunday, weather models are advertising the upper 80s to possibly 90° in Portland! Monday will likely be the hottest day of the year if we can achieve 94°. The last time we were at least that warm was August 27th/28th of last year (98°).
A viewer saw my Muggy Meter and noticed I have a special category between normal and humid, and that is Bad Hair. That simply means there is enough water vapor in the atmosphere to throw off your hair game. How does this work? Read below. The first tweet is from a viewer.
Beautiful weather this summer here, but @NatashaKOIN6 says Muggy Meter indicates “Bad Hair”. Too much static electricity?
This was my answer with the help of a science lesson on atoms from Smithsonian Magazine:
More humidity (dp now 57°) = more water molecules = more hydrogen. Hair forms higher numbers of hydrogen bonds on a humid day. When those bonds are formed between keratin proteins in a strand of hair, it causes the hair to “fold back” on itself. https://bit.ly/2B3PTH9@KOINNews
Smithsonian Magazine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-humidity-makes-your-hair-curl-21127724/