Dry and Low : Humidity Is Down and Discomfort Level Is Up for Many

Sales of nose drops have been soaring. Dogs have been feeling itchy. Tailors have been using hair spray. Spouses have been getting cranky.

Because it’s been dry.

We’re not talking about the lack of rain, although that’s also a problem. We’re talking about low humidity.

During the last two weeks or so, Southern Californians have been suffering through extended periods of what are known here as Santa Ana conditions.

Thanks largely to vast, high-pressure weather systems that have blocked the usual gentle flow of moist, soothing air from the sea and stirred up parched, cantankerous gusts from the desert, the air in Los Angeles has been arid.

Relative humidity in the city, which usually stays between 50% and 60% at this time of year, has averaged in the 19%-to-46% range during the last couple of weeks. Some of the lows have been really low--13% last Saturday, 14% Sunday, 16% Tuesday and 15% Wednesday, conditions more typical of the Kalahari than the corner of Sunset and Figueroa.

There often are major, public crises here when the humidity dips that low--brush fires that rage and dust storms that blind.

But there can be smaller, private crises too.

If you scuff across a wool rug and grab a brass doorknob, you can raise a spark with a stabbing jolt of up to 15,000 volts. (Fortunately, the amperage is so low that the damage is primarily emotional).

Dragging your cat casually across a wool blanket at night can set off a pyrotechnic display that will leave Fluff with a lifetime of memories.

Pant legs stick to socks and skirts cling to pantyhose.

Noses run, lips chap and sinuses throb.

Houseplants wilt. House dogs scratch.

Computers do funny things, all by themselves.

And people who normally are serene and benign turn fidgety and mean.

“The psychological phenomenon seems to be real,” said Dr. Stuart Fischoff, a psychologist on the faculty at Cal State L.A. “It makes some people edgy, some people irritable, some people tired--there’s a whole array of conditions.”

Fischoff said that while the phenomenon is not fully understood, it appears to stem in large part from discomfort--during Santa Anas it can be irritated skin, raw nasal passages, aching sinuses, disrupted sleep--that people suffer when normal conditions change.

“The discomfort leads to temperamental disturbances,” Fischoff said. “The direct physiological impact produces emotional changes. Some people are affected more than others.”

Dr. Frank Dann, a dermatologist at UCLA Medical Center, said human skin begins to dry out when the humidity drops below 35%.

“Some people begin to itch,” he said. “Lips get dry. Some people get a tingly, burning feeling. Almost all skin ailments--eczema, xerosis, ichthyosis--are made worse.”

“There’s a general increase in runny noses and even nosebleeds,” said Dr. Henry Gong, a lung expert at UCLA. “Mouths and throats dry out, and that can cause laryngitis. If you have bronchitis or asthma, there can be real breathing problems.”

“The Kleenex market really begins to soar,” said Stan Lee, a pharmacist at Nelson’s Drug Store in Glendora. “The sales of sinus medicines, decongestants, cough syrups, cold and allergy medicines go up. We sell more hand lotions, and more eyedrops for people who start having trouble with contact lenses. Lots of Chapstick. Lots of Mentholatum.”

Others businesses are affected in other ways.

At Eddie Crispell’s barbershop in Beverly Hills, they have to deal with the increase in static electricity.

“It makes the customers’ hair go nutty and fly all over the place,” said Nick Mitchell, one of the barbers. “We use a product called ‘Bounce’--it’s a little felt pad you’re supposed to throw in a clothes dryer. If you rub it on someone’s head, it’ll keep his hair down.”

For Dan Berger, manager of an Ann Taylor clothing store in Century City, the problem is static cling.

“They make special sprays for that sort of thing,” he said. “But aerosol hair spray works better than anything.”

Bart Everett, a computer expert who lives in Mar Vista, said the static electricity can raise havoc with sensitive components in his equipment.

“If you move your feet on the floor, you can pick up a static charge that can make your computer do all sorts of unpredictable things,” Everett said. “It can really screw things up.”

During normal winter conditions at the Monrovia Nursery in Azusa, one of the largest nurseries in the nation, they water most of the potted plants about once a week. During conditions like these, they have to water them every other day.

At the C.W. Hawkins Christmas tree lot in Arcadia, the battle against dryness is a major campaign.

“We keep a lot of trees in a tent, where they are watered for three to four hours every night,” said Ralph Reed, a veteran Hawkins employee. “When we put them outside in a stand, the trunk sits in a container that holds about a half gallon of water.

“We cover the ground with wood chips and straw and soak it down with a hose every night,” Reed said. “When the sun hits it, the water evaporates and the humidity rises up through the trees. It really works.”

While the dry winds are generally bad for people and house pets, a few of God’s creatures get unexpected dividends.

“The winds blow unusual vegetation--branches, twigs, things like that--into the enclosures of some of our hoofed stock,” said Deborah Pollock, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Zoo. “They like the change in their diet.”

How Dry It’s Been

Relative humidity at the Civic Center has been about half of the normal level for this time of year, or roughly equal to the normal December humidity level for Timbuktu, Mali, in the Sahara.

Here’s a simplified look at what relative humidity levels mean:

100% Humidity: Fog and mist (but not rain, because the formation of rain droplets lowers the humidity.)

50% Humidity: Normal December low-humidity level for Los Angeles

34% Humidity: Normal December low-humidity level for Phoenix, Arizona.

20% Humidity: Normal December humidity for Sahara Desert. Also, the level at which you notice shocks from static electricity.

19% Humidity: Current two week low humidity level average in Los Angeles

10% Humidity: Lows reached during Santa Ana wind conditions.

Some key definitions:

Relative Humidity: This refers to the amount of water in the air, expressed as a percentage of the maximum amount that the air could hold at a given temperature. For example, when the relative humidity is 20%, the air contains 20% of the moisture it is capable of holding at that temperature.

Santa Ana Conditions: This weather pattern is produced when the Pacific High-pressure system over the Western U.S. generates winds that carry dry warm desert air into the Los Angeles basin.

SOURCE: Weather Data Inc. and “A Field Guide to the Atmosphere.”

Compiled by Times researcher Michael Meyers