SCIENCE: Humidity is Worse than Puberty

How many times have you heard this one:

"It's not the heat that gets me, it's the humidity."

If you live on the east coast, in large swathes of the midwest, anywhere in the southeast, in fact, pretty much anywhere at all besides the southwest, I'd wager it's...at least once, every uncomfortable summer day, ever.

While it may be a statement about as interesting and thought-provoking as "sometimes I think kids these days just grow up too fast," it has a basis in fact. Fact is, nothing sucks more than a truly humid day.

Even if it's only a balmy 70 degrees outside, high humidity ensures that by the time you make it in the door of your work, or the grocery store, or the bathroom when you shuffle out of bed, you'll be "glowing" like a pig. Hairstyling is a futile effort (but one which we can't seem to resist, anyway, making it all the more hurtful when it inevitably withers), clothing selection actually requires thought, and footwear can be a previously unimagined nightmare.

Seriously, how do toes suddenly rub together to the blistering point in shoes you've worn comfortably for months? How can a foot possibly swell this much overnight? How come flip-flops aren't just generally accepted as business-casual?

I'm not an ardent environmentalist, but I do maintain a paper-towel-free household full of unplugged appliances.

I've been running the AC every day this week, the entire time I'm home.

Ah, humidity, you cruel harpy

-Posted by Jilly