A stabilizing westerly flow will return to the region Thursday, knocking out the afternoon thunderstorm development, and bringing back sunny and dry conditions. Afternoon winds will kick up to the 10-15 mph range with gusts to 30 mph. Some haze and smoke is possible in varying amounts. Sunny weather will stay in the region through the middle of next week with highs ranging from the mid to upper 90s throughout.

So why does humidity make such a difference in how hot it feels? That all has to do with how our bodies cool themselves.

When we get hot, our brains (marvelous organs they be) send a signal to our sweat glands to open up and wet down our skin. As the sweat evaporates, it draws heat out of our skin in order to provide the energy necessary to turn liquid into vapor. For the real geeky of you out there, it’s called the heat of evaporation. The faster the sweat (water) evaporates, the faster we cool down. In dry air, water evaporates much quicker than when the air is moist, and the cooling process is much more efficient. When it is muggy, we keep sweating, but since very little of it is evaporating, we don’t get cooler.

We just get smellier.