‘Raw’ Weather

Abstract

WITH the return of winter the following physicophysiological question once more calls for solution:—Very hot but dry weather may be tolerable, while moderately hot but very damp weather may be almost unbearable. The explanation of this in terms of cooling by evaporation is known to everyone. Again, while very cold dry conditions may be pleasant and invigorating, damp and rather cold weather—what is generally described as raw weather—is very unpleasant even to normal people, while it is peculiarly bad for those suffering from rheumatism and the like. So far as I know no explanation of this last effect has been generally accepted; indeed, inquiries of many physicists and not a few physiologists have failed to produce any suggestions regarding even the general lines along which a solution might be found. Any complete explanation must also account for the fact that damp air with a moderate temperature is far from unpleasant, as exemplified by the mild southwesterly conditions often occurring in the British Isles.