How does humidity affect temperature, evaporation, cloud formation, and precipitation?
Temperature Humidity can affect ground temperature by absorbing heat energy. A study conducted by Nessler et al.1 suggests that increasing local humidity in the lower troposphere (where combustion would release water vapor) from 30% – 100% caused a 0.3% reduction in albedo (reflectivity). As a result, the atmosphere absorbs more heat. This doesn’t seem like a lot. This is because most of the effect of higher humidity near the ground is increased scattering, which doesn’t affect the net absorption of heat. Therefore, the likely overall impact directly on temperature is small, regardless of how much water vapor is added to the atmosphere. However, see another very important possible temperature impact under “cloud formation”, and see the effect of high altitude humidity on the Climate Change page. Evaporation The rate of evaporation is dependent upon humidity. The lower the humidity, the drier the air above, and the faster the evaporation of water. If the humidity is very low, ground can
