Sweaty Nights – the Problem of Summer Humidity

Your may have noticed, that over the last few weeks, the evenings have become more humid. Much more humid.

Take Rhinelander’s 10 day weather outlook for example:

That green line represents the humidity. It peaks every night around midnight.

In our area, at night, the humidity is much higher than during the day. We’ll spare you most of the science, but basically, it’s because of how many lakes we have in the Northwoods. At night, as the earth cools, the lakes retain their temperature but give off moisture to the cooling air around them. That is where our humid nights come from.

That humidity is great and necessary for local wildlife, but can make sleep for humans nearly impossible.

I remember back to when I was a kid. I would wake up every few hours to flip my pillow “to the cool side.” That was because of the humidity in our home. Central air systems of the ’80’s and ’90’s were not capable of cleaning and dehumidifying the air the way modern systems do.

Now, if your central air system is working properly, you can sleep all summer without ever feeling “sticky” in your own home.

Unfortunately, we are finding that many homeowners do not get their air conditioning systems inspected every year. Even though most of us take our cars in for routine maintenance every few months, we expect our air conditioners to just keep running smoothly. And for those with allergies or a tendency for migraines, that’s like playing Russian Roulette with our health.