Global Warming May Make Humidity Worse

[RamboLiberal]

Source: AP

The world isn't just getting hotter from man-made global warming, it's getting stickier. It really is the humidity. The amount of moisture in the air near the surface — the stuff that makes hot weather unbearable — increased 2.2 percent in just under three decades. And computer models show that the only explanation is man-made global warming, according to a study published in Thursday's journal Nature.

"This humidity change is an important contribution to heat stress in humans as a result of global warming," said Nathan Gillett of the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, a co-author of the study.

Gillett studied changes in specific humidity, which is a measurement of total moisture in the air, between 1973-2002. Increases in humidity can be dangerous to people because it makes the body less efficient at cooling itself, said University of Miami health and climate researcher Laurence Kalkstein. He was not connected with the research.

Humidity increased over most of the globe, including the eastern United States, said study co-author Katharine Willett, a climate researcher at Yale University. However, a few regions, including the U.S. West, South Africa and parts of Australia were drier.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqsGy36PD5ZqF76ZuIwIgftfJ9twD8S6GB400

[jpak]

1. A positive feedback

and not good news...

[Zenlitened]

2. The future is covered in... mildew.

:hide:

[kestrel91316]

3. We have been seeing more muggy summers here in Los Angeles

IMHO, but muggy is relative. Our extremely high temps are miserable enough at 50% humidity.....

Hey, anything to get rid of the 8-9% humidity we see occasionally - where my whole body starts to itch insanely (and I have oily skin).

[Lisa]

4. boy, that's not good ...

Humidity is the major trigger for summer-onset Seasonal Affective Disorder. (The winter type, which is caused by less sunlight, is more common ... but the summer type supposedly has more severe health repercussions.)

Also: "Climate scientists have now seen the man-made fingerprint of global warming on 10 different aspects of Earth's environment: surface temperatures, humidity, water vapor over the oceans, barometric pressure, total precipitation, wildfires, change in species of plants in animals, water run-off, temperatures in the upper atmosphere, and heat content in the world's oceans."

Thanks for posting, RamboLiberal!

[Javaman]

5. Paraphrasing Jesus: the mold will inherit the earth. nt

[lovuian]

6. so everywhere is going to be like Houston

lots of Rain to come

[jus_the_facts]

7. It's a staple feature down here in the bayou....been livin' with it all my life....

....and it SUCKS! x(