over the weekend, my reliability as a source of weather knowledge was called into question when discussing the relative humidity in New York City vs. Washington D.C. my assertion that there was little to no difference between the two cities was dismissed out of hand by numerous parties including the wife (who, y'know, never actually lived in DC most of her life or anything), who said that New York was clearly less humid. well the results are in, thanks to the good folks at the BBC, and while DC averages 3-5 degrees warmer most of the time, the average relative humidity for each place is within 1-2% points in the a.m., while NYC vaults into the lead in the p.m. by 6-8% points throughout the year. i don't know what this vindication earns me other than a scornful look when i walk through the door this evening, but i felt the public must be informed. when my family moved from the dry air of Utah to Maryland about 20 years ago, i'll never forget how it felt to emerge into the thick, fetid DC air for the first time. it was difficult to breathe and it seemed to be about 8 million degrees - it certainly didn't seem feasible that so many people could live under such conditions.
while i'm on the subject, Gothamist has a weather-related blog now. i don't know how long they can come up with material besides the daily forecast, but for now i still prefer the NYTimes print edition weather page with its fun charts and graphs and the 100 daily words on some phenomenon or other.
Posted by jamie at April 19, 2004 01:20 PMi also remember that when we returned to the dry, dry air of utah for a year a bit later, it took me a while to get adjusted and i found myself drinking water like never before, trying to replensih the liquids so kindly provided by the mucky air around d.c.
Posted by: crispin at April 19, 2004 01:51 PMMan, if you had gotten this wrong after being so "horribly embarrassed" last week about your knowledge of outer space, you might have to retire your crown as Mr. I Am Right On Everything. That would change my world view so thanks for being right yet once again.
Posted by: dan at April 19, 2004 06:42 PMThis is funny...I was telling Yann about you before and I told him that if ESPN wasn't on the TV, it was the Weather Channel...and it's so nice to know little has changed...=)
Posted by: Michelle at April 20, 2004 03:04 PMdamn. i *wish* you were wrong in this case. the swampy humidity is probably the thing i'll miss the least about living in dc. i'm very distressed to read that 6-8% stat too! i'm not going far north enough...
Posted by: xtian at April 20, 2004 03:08 PMYeah, I wish you were wrong- don't tell my mom about this humidty thing because I've been trying to convince her that a July wedding in New York won't be that bad.
Also, I find it interesting that the humidity isn't higher in D.C. because it sure feels more unpleasant in the summer in Washington than New York. Could 3-5 degrees really make that much difference or am I the only one who thinks D.C. is more disgusting weather wise than New York? Anyone?
Posted by: Dan at April 20, 2004 04:15 PMDoes New York get an almost-daily thunderstorm between say 3 and 6 p.m.? We get a lot of those down here, and things are usually a little cooler after they blow through. That could have something to do with the temps going down.
In any case, most D.C. summers aren't fun. I think I heard once that the British government used to give hardship pay to its diplomats that were stuck here in the summer (the same bonus they gave to diplos in sub-Saharan Africa).
Posted by: Matt at April 20, 2004 04:40 PMNo Dan, I find the weather in DC so miserable in the summer, I can't bear to think of it. I'm sure this is a shock to all who know TSOA, but this whole thing started over a year ago d/t my constant assertions that dc weather sucks more than NYC in the summer. It only took him a year and a half, but at least he can go on thinking he's always right. But I know the truth.
Posted by: the wife at April 20, 2004 06:06 PM