While still quite humid, Tuesday felt much better than the oppressive humidity of the previous two days. Humidity levels, as measured by dew point temperature, were at or close to period of record maximum values for a number of airport stations over Iowa and beyond. It stands to reason that the heat index was at near record values as well. The featured chart presents the top 10 dates for maximum heat index for Des Moines. Only the highest value each day is plotted once, so this list isn't the top ten hourly heat index values, but top ten dates for highest heat index value. Anyway, Sunday and Monday are both shown on this list with Monday's 119.7°F (Temp: 94°F, Dew Point: 83°F) coming in second place. As an aside, the National Weather Service continues to work toward replacing heat index usage with an index called Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), which takes more weather variables into account. The replacement is still more than a year or more away.

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Tags:   heatindex   jul26