2021 Winter Coping Health Tips
“La Niña” or “El Niño” 2021?
First, answer the question above.
The correct answer is “La Niña”. La Niña, a Spanish term for “a little girl”, occurs when the sea surface temperature across the Pacific Ocean gets cooler (at least 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) than average. The last La Niña appeared during the winter of 2017–2018. In the months ahead scientists are saying this year will be another La Niña.
Even though La Niña contributed in increasing Atlantic hurricane activities; La Niña also brings good news to the DC/ Baltimore area. The winter of La Niña in the DMV area typically is warmer than average, and its precipitation is also slightly drier than normal.
What matters in the outdoors? Snowfall Pattern
La Niña can last longer than El Niño, out to three years. 2020–2021 Winter will be the first year of La Niña cycle. We can break up the snow pattern by looking at the intensity of La Niña episodes: there is a suggestion that weaker events are snowier over the Northeast and Central Plain. A Stronger event could mean snowier condition across the Northwest and Alaska. (See Snowfall pattern from NOAA)
“Aside from the 1996 blizzard, the only other big snowfall events with double digit snowfalls during a La Nina winter were the 10.2 inches recorded in December 1973 at Washington DC and the 14.9 inches recorded in January 2000 at Baltimore.” (Source: NOAA)
Since this year we are expected to have a strong La Niña episode, we (in DMV area) miss chances to take pretty and snowy landscape photos. But visiting local landmarks from far or staying in the indoors to enjoy the cozy family time would be a good choice too.
What matters in the indoors? Relative Humidity
Though La Niña winter is typically warmer than average, we still need to turn on the heat in the indoors. Turning up the heat and increasing the indoor air exchange rate might result in low humidity in the space, and further impact our respiratory immune system. There is increasing scientific literature showing that the human’s respiratory immune system is stronger when the relative humidity is between 40% to 60%. Beside purchasing a regular air humidifier, there are a few other ways you could increase the overall humidity level without mechanical devices.
Simple tips to help increasing the Relative Humidity (RH):
Increase RH + Beautify your space at the same time
- Set up containers with water close to the room registers: Filling flower vases or potteries with water (and glass beads if you like). Then place them close to the register (or sunny window). This will not only beautify your space but also help increase the humidity level.
- Place indoor plants: studies show evapotranspiration from spider and jade plants can improve relative humidity in an interior environment. Spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum) transpire more during lighted periods. Whereas the jade plants (Crassula argentea) have greater evapotranspiration rates during dark periods. Therefore if you could place more jade plants in your bedrooms or bathrooms, and spider plants in your brighter areas, such as living room or sunroom. That will benefit the overall indoor humidity level.
- Making seasonal ornaments: there is this good article teaching you how to make seasonal pinecone wreath without gluing or wiring. Her method was to soak the pinecone in advance as the way to bind the pinecones together. During the process of hygromorph of the pinecone (from cool/ wet to warm/ dry), pinecones releases moisture to the air, thus increase the overall indoor humidity level.
Increase RH + Save energy at the same time
- Open the door after using the shower: the warm steam will carry the moisture throughout the house (due to convection). Therefore increases the indoors’ overall humidity.
- Using a drying rack inside the house rather than a dyer: I place my drying rack directly below the registers from the ceiling. This is not only help me with drying clothes faster, but it also increase the overall humidity level and cut my utility bill.
- Using the stove top rather than the microwave oven to warm up food: while cooking food on stove top, the steam will help carrying moisture around the space.
What you need to know about Relative Humidity
Last, don’t get confused with relative humidity and humidity ratio. To simplify their difference, Relative Humidity is pounds moisture per pound wet air; the Humidity Ratio the measurement that we typically describe as pounds moisture per pounds dry air.
To understand this further, we need to look at the Psychrometric charts. This graphic shows important moist air property such as wet-bulb/ dry bulb temperature, enthalpy, dew point and relative humidity. As rule of thumb, the cooler air will hold less moisture as warm air. On the other hand, since the warmer the air can hold more moisture, that also make people “feel” dryer when the air temperature is higher. Assume your dry-bulb temperature shows 72 F and your wet-bulb temperature shows 60 F, then the RH in your room is 50%. But if you heat the same amount of air up to 79 F, you will see the RH in your space drop to 40%. (See graphic below.)
If you are interested in reading more references or illustrations in this related article, check out here.
