All three — relative humidity, temperature and dew point — are bound together in the mathematical relationship below. A source of confusion Relative humidity changes when temperatures change.

For example, the relative humidity on a given day may vary between 90% in the morning and 38% in the afternoon and it still feels relatively comfortable.

The scientists compared the observed relative humidity in the dry zones to 16 different climate models used in the most recent study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.