CHARLOTTE, N.C. — July was an extremely hot month in the Charlotte area, hitting 100 degrees multiple times for the first time in a decade.

Our WCNC Charlotte Weather Impact Team spoke multiple times about how rare this is, largely due to humidity levels in the Carolinas.

And with students going back to school this week in multiple school districts, humidity increasing, and highs returning to near 90 degrees, we wanted to answer this common Weather IQ question!

The simple answer: It takes more energy to increase the temperature if the air is moist compared to dry air. This is why it's rare to see a 100-degree temperature in Charlotte but NOT a 105 to 110-degree heat index.

Moist, or humid, air contains lots of water vapor molecules, which has a high specific heat capacity.

Specific he

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