The mercury dropped to -6 degrees or even lower in many places last night. And yet the car windows were not frozen over this morning. This has everything to do with the low humidity, which causes other problems.
Some winter mornings we have to scrape the windshield of our car before we leave and other mornings, like today, we don’t. “That has everything to do with the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere and the temperature. The humid outside air causes condensation to form on your car, which freezes at temperatures below zero. It froze quite a bit last night, but the humidity is currently low. And when there is little water vapor or moisture, there is nothing to freeze,” weatherman Frank Deboosere explains simply.
Anyone who leaves their car outside tonight and perhaps tomorrow evening will not have to put too much effort into protecting the windshield with cardboard or an anti-freeze blanket. The humidity remains low and so we probably won’t have to scratch on Wednesday and Thursday morning. From Friday the air will become more humid, but the worst cold will also be over.
“It froze quite a bit last night, but the humidity is currently low. And when there is little water vapor or moisture present, there is nothing to freeze”
Frank Deboosere
Weatherman
Not having to clear the car windows of ice in the morning is a great advantage. But the low humidity in the air also has disadvantages. Especially for those who are extra sensitive to it.
Static electricity
You know how it is: you put on your sweater and your hair shoots into the air, or you get a shock when you open the car door. Or it literally gives off sparks when you give your sweetheart a kiss. Static electricity is more common in winter. And especially if there is little moisture in the air. Like now.
“There is then too little water vapor that – as an excellent conductor – can conduct the electricity. People with dry skin are more sensitive to it than others. They save more residual charges, because they cannot escape through the moisture on the skin. In addition, you should also pay attention to your clothing, because with synthetic fabrics, such as fleece, nylon and acrylic, you risk being charged much faster than with natural fabrics such as cotton,” says Deboosere, who also suffers from this a lot himself.