(WBNG) -- Have you ever wondered why it is always the winter months when it seems near impossible to prevent dry skin and chapped lips? Well, it has to do with the weather conditions.
The first thing that might come to mind for many people is that dry skin is caused by the cold temperatures outside, but that is not the case. In fact, it has to do with an atmospheric variable call relative humidity.
Simply put, relative humidity is the amount of moisture in the air, compared to how much moisture the air can hold and it is typically expressed as a percent.
An example of this would be Wednesday's relative humidity at noon was 85%.
You might be asking oneself now, isn't 85% relative humidity a high value? It is! Typically, an average airmass during the winter months is fairly saturated and is not what causes dry skin or chapped lips. The issue during the winter months is the relative humidity inside!
Relative humidity changes drastically from outside to inside during the winter because we are adding heat to the air in order to stay warm. When you add heat, the airmass then becomes physically capable of holding more moisture. With the moisture remaining the same for both outside and inside, the relative humidity plummets.
In the example above, the outdoor temperature is warmed from 12°F to 70°F. During this process, the dew point remains constant between inside and outside because moisture is never added to the air no matter how you heat your home. With warmer temperatures and the same dew points, the new relative humidity inside drops to a bone dry 6%. An ideal relative humidity to prevent dry skin is 60%!
One way to combat this during the winter would be to use a humidifier to try and add moisture to the air as you heat it.
For those who were wondering how relative humidity is calculated, this is the formula:
RH: =100(e^((17.625TD)/(243.04+TD))/e^((17.625*T)/(243.04+T)))
The Link LonkJanuary 28, 2021 at 03:19AM
https://wbng.com/2021/01/27/the-role-weather-plays-in-causing-dry-skin-its-not-the-reason-you-think/
The role weather plays in causing dry skin: Its not the reason you think - WBNG-TV
https://news.google.com/search?q=dry&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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