Wet-bulb potential temperature

Okay, so imagine you're outside playing on a hot summer day. You might feel hot and sweaty, right? But what if there was another factor that made it feel even hotter? That's what wet-bulb potential temperature is all about.

You know how when you sweat, your body cools down as the sweat evaporates? Well, the same thing happens with water in the air. Wet-bulb potential temperature takes into account the temperature of the air and the amount of moisture in it.

To measure wet-bulb potential temperature, you would use a thermometer with a wet wick around it. As the water evaporates from the wick, it cools down the thermometer. The temperature that the thermometer reads is called the wet-bulb temperature.

Now, the wet-bulb temperature isn't just a fancy number - it tells us how much moisture is in the air. If the air is really dry, then a lot of water will evaporate from the wick and the wet-bulb temperature will be much lower than the actual temperature. But if the air is really humid, then there won't be much evaporation from the wick and the wet-bulb temperature will be closer to the actual temperature.

The wet-bulb potential temperature takes this relationship between temperature and moisture into account. It tells you what the temperature would be if the air were completely saturated with moisture. So when people talk about the wet-bulb potential temperature, they're really talking about how hot it feels outside, taking into account both the actual temperature and the amount of moisture in the air.