Why knowing the ‘Feels Like’ temperature matters

With more and more people getting live air temperatures on their mobile phones or vehicle dashboards, the one commonly used but scientific term is the ‘feels-like’ temperature.

The ‘feels-like’ temperature relies on environmental data including the air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed to determine how weather conditions feel to bare skin.

Different combinations of temperature, humidity and wind speed can increase the sensation of being hot or cold. For example, a day that is very humid may feel hotter than it really is outside because your body sweat does not evaporate (and thereby cool the body) the way it is intended.

Oman Meteorology has said that there is a difference between a perceived (feels-like) temperature and actual recorded temperatures.

For example, at the writing of this report, the actual Muscat temperature was around 40° but the feels-like temperature was a notch higher at 42°C and 43°C.

The recorded temperature is generally felt to be lower than the temperatures that a person feels.

Oman Met underlines the ability of the human body to adapt to the high air temperature through a self-cooling mechanism like sweat that evaporates and works to lower the body temperature, and the higher the relative humidity, the lower the rate of sweat evaporation, which keeps the body temperature high compared to the actual temperature recorded.

Some global meteorological facilities have established another approximate measurement index called the ‘felt temperature’ degree, a mathematical measure that combines the air temperature and the relative humidity to determine the approximate temperature that a person feels.

An example is the temperature of 35° and relative humidity of 70, so the sensible heat is 51°Celsius.

Oman Meteorology has said that there is a difference between a perceived (feels-like) temperature and actual recorded temperatures