The feeling of dampness at low temperatures

The widely held view that in cold weather one feels colder when the atmosphere is damp than when it is dry was investigated on clothed subjects. Subjective coldness and dampness, determined by a panel of six people who walked about half a mile in the open in winter, were compared with measurements of temperature, relative humidity, and other meteorological variables. The panellists comments showed that when the weather is cold, people think it is damp when the sky is overcast, irrespective of relative humidity. However, when this factor has been allowed for there still appears to be some correlation between subjective dampness and relative humidity. Relative humidity does appear to have an effect on how cold one feels at low temperatures, but only to a limited extent, and in the opposite direction to popular belief.