Dew Point Comfort Chart: What Feels Muggy, Sticky, or Comfortable?

Dew point is one of the best ways to judge how humid, muggy, or comfortable the air will actually feel. A dew point around 55°F or lower usually feels comfortable. Once it reaches the low 60s, you begin to notice the humidity. Around 65°F and above, it starts getting sticky. A 68°F dew point is definitely muggy, while 72°F feels very humid and oppressive to many people.

The dew point comfort chart below gives you the whole range, from dry and pleasant to tropical and miserable. You can also use the dew point calculator to enter the temperature and relative humidity and see exactly where your conditions fall. I will also explain why dew point tells you more about summer comfort than relative humidity does.

Dew Point Comfort Chart

Here is my practical dew point comfort scale. Comfort is somewhat personal, but these ranges give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

For Celsius readers, 55°F is about 13°C, 60°F is 16°C, 65°F is 18°C, 70°F is 21°C, 75°F is 24°C, and 80°F is about 27°C.

The National Weather Service uses similar broad summer comfort ranges. Around 55°F or lower is generally dry and comfortable. The 55°F to 65°F range becomes increasingly sticky, while dew points around 65°F and higher contain enough moisture to become increasingly oppressive.

I split those ranges into smaller steps because there is quite a difference between a 56°F dew point and a 64°F dew point, even though both fall into the same broad range.

Dew Point Calculator

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If you want to know the actual dew point right where you are, a handheld temperature and humidity meter can calculate it for you. The Protmex HT607 Temperature Humidity Meter displays the dew point directly, along with temperature, relative humidity, and wet-bulb temperature. I like this option because it is small, simple, and reasonably priced.

What Is a Comfortable Dew Point?

For most people, a dew point in the 50s is comfortable. I consider 55°F or lower very pleasant summer air. There is enough moisture that the air does not feel extremely dry, but not enough to give you that sticky feeling.

Once the dew point moves above 60°F, you will probably begin to notice it. A dew point of 61°F or 62°F is not terrible, but the air feels more humid. By the middle 60s, especially on a warm day, the difference becomes obvious.

This is why a forecast calling for a lower dew point can make such a big difference even if the daytime temperature barely changes. An 82°F afternoon with a dew point in the low 50s feels quite different from 82°F with the dew point pushing 70°F.

When Does the Dew Point Become Uncomfortable?

For me, the mid 60s are where dew point begins crossing from humid into uncomfortable. Around 65°F or 66°F, the air starts feeling noticeably sticky, particularly if you are working outside.

The problem gets worse as the dew point climbs because sweat does not evaporate from your skin as easily in very moist air. Evaporation is one of the body’s main ways of getting rid of heat. High atmospheric moisture slows that process.

Is a 68°F Dew Point High?

Yes. A 68°F dew point is high enough to feel distinctly muggy and uncomfortable.

For me, about 68°F is where it starts getting downright nasty. You can feel the moisture in the air, and physical work outside begins feeling noticeably harder.

A 68°F dew point sits right in that transition between ordinary summer humidity and the kind of muggy air you really begin to dislike.

Is a 72°F Dew Point High?

Yes indeed. A 72°F dew point is very humid and will feel sticky and oppressive to many people.

Once the dew point gets into the low 70s, the air takes on a different feel. It can seem thick, and even standing outside without doing much work can become uncomfortable.

A dew point of 75°F or higher is more tropical. If the actual temperature is also high, that combination deserves more attention because your body has a harder time cooling itself through evaporation.

If you want continuous weather readings for your own property, rather than checking conditions with a handheld meter, a full personal weather station is another option. The Ambient Weather WS-2902 (Amazon) continuously monitors your backyard conditions and displays dew point along with temperature, humidity, wind, rainfall, barometric pressure, UV, and other weather data.

Dew Point vs. Relative Humidity

Dew point and relative humidity are related, but they are not the same thing.

Dew point gives you a more direct indication of how much moisture is actually in the air. Relative humidity tells you how close the air is to saturation at its current temperature. Because of that, relative humidity can change considerably as the temperature changes even when the amount of moisture in the air has changed very little.

To me, relative humidity is not nearly as practical for judging how muggy it feels outside. The dew point number correlates much more closely with how the air actually feels. For example:

If the air temperature is 40°F and the dew point is 40°F, the relative humidity is 100 percent. Yet nobody would describe that cold air as tropical or muggy.

Now take an 85°F day with a 68°F dew point. The relative humidity is only around 57 percent, but that warmer air will feel much more humid and muggy than the 40°F air with 100 percent relative humidity. The National Weather Service makes the same general point when explaining why dew point is a better measure of summer comfort.

So if you want to know how dry or muggy it will feel outside during warm weather, look at the dew point instead of relying only on the relative humidity percentage.

Is a High Dew Point Dangerous?

A high dew point by itself does not give you a single official line between safe and dangerous.

What it does tell you is that there is a lot of moisture in the air. When hot weather and high moisture occur together, sweat evaporates more slowly and your body has a harder time getting rid of excess heat.

For actual heat danger, I would look at the Heat Index. It combines heat and humidity to estimate how hot conditions feel to the human body. If you are doing strenuous work outside, especially in direct sun, Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, or WBGT, provides an even broader measure by accounting for heat, humidity, wind and solar conditions.

In other words, a 75°F dew point should certainly get your attention on a hot day, but dew point alone is primarily a moisture and comfort measurement rather than a complete heat-safety rating.

How to Find the Dew Point

Most weather apps and National Weather Service forecasts show the current dew point along with temperature and relative humidity.

If you know the air temperature and relative humidity but not the dew point, use the Dew Point Calculator above. Enter those two values and it will calculate the dew point and show how comfortable, humid, or muggy the air is likely to feel.

A home weather station is useful if you want conditions for your exact location. This can matter in rural areas where the nearest official weather station may be many miles away or at a noticeably different elevation.

The Takeaway

During summer, dew point is my main measure of how comfortable the air is going to feel.

A dew point in the 50s is generally pleasant. The low 60s begin feeling humid. Around 65°F and higher it starts getting sticky. At 68°F, I definitely notice it. Once it reaches the low 70s, it feels downright muggy and oppressive.

Temperature certainly matters too, but give me an 85°F day with a low dew point over an 80°F day with tropical humidity any time.

How high does the dew point get where you live during the summer? At what point does it become uncomfortable for you? And if you live where 70°F+ dew points are common, do you ever really get used to it?

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