Monsoons bring a lot to our desert region – the normally dry arid climate can take on the sticky feeling of more humid areas.
Hopefully – that more humid air brings monsoon rains that fill up the high desert’s water table for the coming year – something that’s important in a bad drought year, but especially necessary in an area such as ours that can measure yearly rainfall in the single digits. So why is damp air bad news for those of us who rely on swamp coolers to stay comfortable in the summer?
Swamp coolers rely on the natural cooling effect of evaporating air – so during normal seasons where our humidity is low – swamp coolers work at their most efficient. When humidity levels start to creep toward the magic 30% – you’ll probably find that its only blowing hot air.
On those particularly muggy days – switch to AC if you can as air conditioning works independently of the amount of moisture in the air. If you are like me and only have a swamp cooler on your roof – keep those windows cracked when running it, and think about opening everything up at night to bring in as much cool dry air as possible.
Listen to the weather right here on Z107.7 and plan ahead if you hear that humidity level rising.
