There’s Something in the Air : Weather: Orange County’s low humidity is causing dry throats, crankiness and dogs with itchy skin.

Sales of nose drops have been soaring. Dogs have been feeling itchy. Clothiers 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 though extended periods of very low humidity.

Dry air translates into dry throats. And physicians said the hacking and coughing one hears in many rooms lately is not from colds but from dry throats and noses.

“On Wednesday, I had a science class full of students snorting and blowing,” said Prof. Tom Garrison of Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. “It sounded like a TB ward. It’s a result of this weather, and the weather is being dominated by a high pressure area that just will not move. It’s the high pressure area from hell.”

Garrison, a marine science and weather expert, referred to a longstanding high-pressure area that has blocked the flow of moist air.

Relative humidity in the Los Angeles-Orange County area, 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 1st and Main streets in Santa Ana.

There often are major, public crises in Southern California 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 pet 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 Los Angeles. “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 low humidity 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 the UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, 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.”

Dr. George Hashisaki, a nose and throat specialist at the UCI Medical Center in Orange, said the dry weather has caused an increase in patients with nose problems.

“You know how the skin on your hands gets cracked and dry? Well, the same thing happens during dry weather to the lining of your nose,” Hashisaki said. “There can be the sensation of stuffiness or the sensation of itchiness. It’s even affected me personally. I’ve felt a little bit of nasal itchiness.”

In San Juan Capistrano, Ken Virgin manager of the San Juan Pharmacy, said sales of nose drops and lip balm had increased by about 25% in recent days.

Others businesses are affected in other ways.

In Huntington Beach, the posh, new Waterfront Hilton Beach Resort took special steps to keep guests from getting static electrical shocks during the dry weather.

Hotel workers gave brass fittings in the resort more than just a shine; they put chemistry to work.

“By using brass cleaners and other solutions with an anti-static agent built in, we’ve eliminated nearly any chance of anyone being shocked,” said Elda LasPinas, executive housekeeper of the hotel.

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’ . . . 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.”

Times staff writer Bill Billiter contributed to this story.

How Dry It’s Been

Relative humidity in Orange County has been below the normal level for this time of year, or roughly equal to the normal December humidity level for Phoenix, Ariz.

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 Orange County. 35% Humidity: Current two-week average low-humidity reading in Orange County. 20% Humidity: Normal December humidity for Sahara Desert. Also, the level at which you notice shocks from static electricity. 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 Orange County. SOURCE: Weather Data Inc. and “A Field Guide to the Atmosphere.” Compiled by Times researcher Michael Meyers