First warning weather in detail: Are you having a bad hair day? The high dew point is to blame for this!

News 10NBC First Alert meteorologists have a variety of ways to measure the weather. It may seem complicated at times, but the atmosphere is complicated. For example, there is wind speed and direction or visibility and temperature. The moisture content of the atmosphere is equally important. To meet this need, there is relative humidity, which measures the rate of evaporation. However, a more accurate measurement is the dew point. This is the temperature the air would have to cool to reach saturation. The value means that the higher the dew point, the more moisture the atmosphere contains.

A fun comparison is to look at how humidity can affect your hairstyle and, in particular, how manageable your hair is on any given day. With a dew point in the 60 to 70 degree range (or higher), your hair may become curly or frizzy. However, more recently the dew point has decreased and is now in the 45 to 55 degree range. This is the point at which the atmosphere pushes the moisture out of the hair and your hair becomes just a little more manageable.

How do you measure this change in the atmosphere? Believe it or not, moisture levels can be calibrated and monitored by building your own hair hygrometer. A device can be constructed from simple materials such as a piece of cardboard to mark moisture levels, tape, construction paper (to make an arrow), a thumbtack, and a long strand of hair.

Once you have your materials, secure the long strand of hair to the top of the cardboard with tape. Let the hair hang down and attach it to the arrow’s slot. Then attach the arrow to the box with a thumbtack (see video). This is your hair hygrometer. When it is humid outside, the hair absorbs the water and the strand of hair grows longer. And when the air is very dry, the hair becomes shorter and the arrow moves to a different position.

I think it’s true what they say about a “bad” hair day, but I have to admit that I don’t have much experience with it personally.