The Dew Point Explained (In Plain English)

Like, in a cave.
I toured Carlsbad Caverns, where it is always around 68°F and almost 100% RH. I found it almost oppressive. Even walking created enough muscle heat that I started to perspire, and at that humidity, it didn’t evaporate.

Damp cold for me is far more unpleasant than dry cold and I can tolerate really cold much better than a humid cold. The same dew points maps to a wide range of temperatures and humidities, and at least at the lower range of the scale, some are much more comfortable than other.

The Le Chatalier in me says that the water air thing is an equilibrium, and above 100% relative humidity the air is depositing water faster that it picks it up, and below 100%, its picking it up faster than it deposits.

The trouble with relative humidity is that its going to vary a lot with temperature. You tell someone its 90% and looking like dew, or rain (fog,snow,etc) and they say hey, my guage says its 80% ?? But are you measuring the air at the same temperature ?

So dew point is the temperature , determined by current absolute humidity , when if it gets that cool, its going to start creating precipitation or fog.