Since the dew point temperature generally needs at or below the air temperature, the very chilly air on Wednesday was dry as well. Probably thanks to the ongoing drought situation, it feels like we have seen more than our fair share of dry air so far this season. The featured chart attempts to quantify that feeling by showing the accumulated number of hours at or below a given dew point temperature for Des Moines between the 1 July and 30 November period. Sure enough, our suspicion was correct with most of the values shown above a simple climatological average. It is interesting to note that for extremely dry dew point temperatures (below 10F), this season has seen a below average accumulation. The reason for this is likely more a function of lack of snow cover, which promotes lower temperatures generally unreachable with somewhat warm ground temperatures that are snow free.

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