Posted on: Tuesday, August 28, 2001

Relief from muggy weather in sight

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Families that play together, stick together. And if these families were playing in the muggy outdoors yesterday, they probably stuck together in more ways than one.

Yesterday capped a weekend of hot, muggy weather where people who weren't in air-conditioned spaces likely found themselves sticking to their clothes or each other. The humid weather was caused by a drop in the trade winds and a tropical disturbance that passed south of the state yesterday, said National Weather Service lead forecaster Roy Matsuda.

Matsuda said humidity is measured by the dew point, which usually is in the upper 60s in Hawai'i. But Matsuda said yesterday's dew point hovered in the upper 70s, with 80 being the absolute highest.

But Matsuda said trade winds should return today, bringing with them cooler weather. The trades are expected to blow away the tropical disturbance, source of the warm, humid air.

Matsuda added that the trade winds should be around for a while.

"In the morning, it might start out like that (warm and muggy), but by the afternoon, the winds should pick up," he said.