About real cold - when it arrives - on decodedscience.org, an ask-the-scientist feature had an oddball who was in denial about the difference humidity makes. Most know the effect. In Wyoming, make that all of us know. Somehow, one guy just didn’t believe it.

Whatever his name was, he said, “People keep telling me moisture makes it colder when it gets near freezing or below. I am not buying that. All other things being equal (same wind, no rain, dry clothes, etc), I suspect moisture in the air will always make one feel warmer, even at 20 degrees. Help me settle this.”

This genius gave no location for his home, and climate, or the planet he was on, but here was the answer he got.
“In science, the ultimate arbitrator is to experiment rather than argue theory. High humidity is 100% humidity, which means its raining. Anyone who has ever been caught in a cold rain knows that in cool weather, it feels much colder than if it were dry at same temperature.” ... Alrighty, and that was that.

Many a Wyomingite has told friends back east, “But it’s a dry cold.” If you lived in Chicago, by the humid lake, but then you moved to the west, you'd just know dry is better. It's not up for Q&A.

I wonder if the guy didn’t believe in wind chill either. Unless he's really not an earthling, he should move to Wyoming.

Stay warm.

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