The heat index is ridiculous because it is missing a crucial piece of information. Right now the Temperature in Minneapolis is 81 but the Heat Index claims that it "feels like" 79. At WHAT HUMIDITY? Zero humidity? "Normal" humidity for the current location? "Normal" humidity for Tucson, Arizona? Probably the latter, since it feels great.
The humidity is actually a startlingly low 26% and the dewpoint is 43. It doesn't feel remotely like 79 degrees normally feels in the summer in Minneapolis, where the humidity is usually closer to what you're experiencing right now in Chicago and 79 is Too Damn Hot. I don't know how they calculate that number, but it is clearly meaningless without the missing factor.
Dewpoint is a genuine fact-based calculation that you can learn to interpret or not but it is clear how they come up with it. The Heat Index is a Windchill Factor wannabe that was created in 1979 to make summer weather forecasts more exciting. The guy who came up with it originally called it an "assessment of sultriness" which is an even sexier term that they probably should have kept.
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branchandroot
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Date: Tuesday, 24 June 2025 10:59 pm (UTC)The humidity is actually a startlingly low 26% and the dewpoint is 43. It doesn't feel remotely like 79 degrees normally feels in the summer in Minneapolis, where the humidity is usually closer to what you're experiencing right now in Chicago and 79 is Too Damn Hot. I don't know how they calculate that number, but it is clearly meaningless without the missing factor.
Dewpoint is a genuine fact-based calculation that you can learn to interpret or not but it is clear how they come up with it. The Heat Index is a Windchill Factor wannabe that was created in 1979 to make summer weather forecasts more exciting. The guy who came up with it originally called it an "assessment of sultriness" which is an even sexier term that they probably should have kept.