HUMIDEX
Definition Humidex - Over the years, several measures have been proposed to relate various combinations of temperature and humidity into a single number to approximate what hot, humid weather feels like to the average person. Of these, humidex is the one most familiar to Canadians. Humidex was introduced into Canada in 1965. The index is a summer analogue of the wind chill factor in that it is an equivalent air temperature. Air of a given temperature and humidity is equated in comfort to air of a higher temperature that has a negligible moisture content. Comfort is quite subjective and largely dependent on the age and health of the individual. Weather conditions causing prickly heat in an infant may result in heat cramps in a teenager, heat exhaustion in a middle-aged and heat stroke in a senior. Humidex is also limited as an overall hot-weather comfort index because it does not consider other factors such as pressure, wind speed, precipitation, sunshine or pollen.