Static electricity is the root of all evil. Well, maybe that’s overstating it, but it’s still rather irritating. The pain that is involved when you take a quick shock from the car handle right on the tip of your fingers can be jolting to say the least.

So, why winter? Why don’t we have this kind of problem in the summer months. It all comes down to moisture. Arctic air like we’ve had off and on for the past week is extremely dry. So dry that it makes summer in Arizona seem muggy. Dewpoint is generally accepted as one of the best measurements of moisture. In general, the higher the dewpoint, the more humid it is. So on a dry, summer day in Arizona you might have dewpoints ranging in the 20s…that’s dry.

In Arctic air, it’s not uncommon to have dewpoints in the 0s, -10s or even lower. That’s insanely dry. Because dry air allows for the build-up of static electricity, we notice this more in the winter. Water vapor (which when it is in abundance makes it humid) can help to move the extra electrons that we are always picking up off of us more easily. However, when the air is very dry, we tend to keep our electrons in large quantities and then release them on the unsuspecting door handle of the car.

The bad hair, the sparks you can see in the sleeves of your winter coat and even the zap from the metal handles you touch, they are all indirectly a gift from Canada since it’s their air that we’ve got for the next day or two!