The absolute measure of humidity – or how much moisture there is in the air – is the dewpoint. The highest the dewpoint goes, the more humid it is…and in 2022, it has been high more than it has been low.

But how do you answer the question of “how humid has 2022 so far been?” The answer is: it depends how you measure it, but by most measures, it’s been abnormally humid. For this analysis, let’s look at the hourly dewpoint in Cincinnati from when the airport opened

The average dewpoint based on hourly data at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport since June 1, 1948. We’ll use 8pm on August 5 as the cut-off time for 2022.

Since June 1st, the average dewpoint in Cincinnati (based on hourly data) has been about 65.7°. When you compare this same period of time against previous years at CVG, 2022 ranks as the 4th highest:

By this account, 2022 so far hasn’t been terribly humid, but there are different ways to measure how humid a period of time is. Here’s another way to measure it: “how many hours have we been in humid air?” If you say a dewpoint of 60°+ is humid like I do, we’ve had more than 1,600 hours (more than 66 days) in humid air so far this year:

This calculation, too, shows years like 2010 and 2011 were more humid, but turn the threshold up to 65°+, and 2022 climbs up the list:

That’s nearly 43 days in 65°+ air in the first 217 days of the year. Let’s keep going: 2022 is in 2nd place for the most number of hours year-to-date at CVG with a 68°+ dewpoint:

68° for a dewpoint means it’s very humid, but I consider a dewpoint of 70°+ steamy.

That’s more than 28 days in steamy air so far in 2022. That smashes the previous record of 512 hours year-to-date in 2010. This alone is impressive, but the dewpoint was in the mid 70s for most of Friday (August 5th)…so let’s keep going. CVG has had more than a week with a very steamy dewpoint of 75°+:

That’s also a record. But let’s go a little more. How about 78°+?

To give some perspective on this, of the 610,505 hourly weather observations I used in my calculations throughout this analysis, there were only 179 hours with a dewpoint of 78°+. Put another way, less than 0.03% of all weather observations to date at CVG have a dewpoint that high or higher.

There is no “top 10” list for dewpoint of 80°+ (extremely steamy) weather observations at CVG because a dewpoint that high as only occurred in Cincinnati for a total of 22 hours and across 4 years (2022, 1975, 2011, and 1955). Eight of those hours occurred in 2022, and that is a record for a single year.

The all-time record highest dewpoint for Cincinnati is 82°, set in July of 1943. This was observed at the Abbe Observatory in Clifton, where official records for Cincinnati were kept at the time (and airport to the International Airport opening).

By many measures, 2022 so far has been the most humid or at least among the most humid on record. August 2022 alone has begun with 5 steamy days (based on the average daily dewpoint):

…and Cincinnati is already up to 26 steamy (70°+ average dewpoint) days and 63 humid (60°+ average dewpoint) days so far this year:

To put these numbers in perspective, Cincinnati averages 17 steamy and 72 humid days each calendar year. The records are 98 humid days (1991) and 38 steamy days (1977) for a single year at CVG.

And summer is not over! Steamy air typically moves south in early to mid-September, and humid air is usually done for the year in late September to early October.