The dew points...a good measure of the moisture in the air...are quite high today, reaching into the lower to mid 60s right now (around 2 PM Saturday).
Here are the current dew points at some local stations--no lack of 60s!
And with temperature in the low 70s, the relative humidities are quite high, with plenty of locations above 80%:
No wondering I am sweating so much while I am working in my garden today!
Typical dew points around here in the spring and early summer are more typically in the mid 40s. Lets illustrate with Olympia, where the dew point is now 63F. This plot shows the dew points for the past 12 weeks. Today is highest, with one time in early June getting to 62.
To be so warm, with lots of clouds, and such high humidity means only one thing....tropical or subtropical air has reached us. To illustrate this, here is the vertically integrated water vapor in the atmosphere forecast to occur at 2 PM today (Saturday):
Don't like warmth and high humidities? No worry. This tongue of warmth and moisture is only transitory and will head south of us tonight (map at 5 AM below):
Time to break the bad news to my tomato plants.
