Does the “feels like” temperature affect palms?

[Dimimelbourne]

So I’m looking at a few different cities in southern Europe, Tel Aviv and here in Cyprus and seeing how the humidity here has just dropped lately after summer.

It’s still warm, low 30°C in the day and we had a due point of around 20°c but now it’s 9° and breezy. I definitely feel the difference.

 I’m also seeing in Spain, they seem to have lower temperatures in general but higher humidity so “feels like” temperature is higher.

I know wind and humidity play a role in palm care obviously but does the “feels like” temperature matter at all?

 

[JohnAndSancho]

I'd like to start by clarifying that I'm not a scientist, I'm just an idiot growing plants. But aside from the humidity, I don't think so just like I don't think the wind chill matters. I mean, obviously humidity and wind play roles in a palm's health but I think 90° to a plant is 90° even at 90% humidity. Like for example right now, here, it's 93°F but "feels like" 101°F. I believe plants still just think it's 93°. 

[Dimimelbourne]

44 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I'd like to start by clarifying that I'm not a scientist, I'm just an idiot growing plants. But aside from the humidity, I don't think so just like I don't think the wind chill matters. I mean, obviously humidity and wind play roles in a palm's health but I think 90° to a plant is 90° even at 90% humidity. Like for example right now, here, it's 93°F but "feels like" 101°F. I believe plants still just think it's 93°. 

I’m torn. On 1 side I imagine the “feels like” temperature to do with human perception and our sensory receptors are involved but on the other hand, the “feels like” temperature is in relation to wind and humidity so I feel like it would affect them 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

Maybe in a different way? Who knows 

[JohnAndSancho]

1 minute ago, Dimimelbourne said:

I’m torn. On 1 side I imagine the “feels like” temperature to do with human perception and our sensory receptors are involved but on the other hand, the “feels like” temperature is in relation to wind and humidity so I feel like it would affect them 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

Maybe in a different way? Who knows 

Ok think about it like this though. Most of a palm's circulatory system, a significant part of its body if you will, is underground. So my take is that this will minimize the impact of high humidity on them. 

 

Then again, some plants transpire excess water. I'm not sure if palms do, but I know my Philodendrons do. It's not technically sweating, they just took up more water than they could use so it comes out their leaves to evaporate back into the atmosphere. 

[5am]

This topic comes up from time to time around here. 

[Dimimelbourne]

29 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Ok think about it like this though. Most of a palm's circulatory system, a significant part of its body if you will, is underground. So my take is that this will minimize the impact of high humidity on them. 

 

Then again, some plants transpire excess water. I'm not sure if palms do, but I know my Philodendrons do. It's not technically sweating, they just took up more water than they could use so it comes out their leaves to evaporate back into the atmosphere. 

This is a good point about their roots being under ground. Would shield them from a lot of wind and humidity ey

[Dimimelbourne]

28 minutes ago, 5am said:

This topic comes up from time to time around here. 

Curious kookaburras wanting to get to the bottom of it! 

[tim_brissy_13]

@Dimimelbourne it’s worth remembering that the ‘feels like’ temperate is an human made artificial concept based on a combination of ambient temperature, humidity and wind. My understanding is the idea stems from the fact that humans generate their own warmth and also sweat to cool. It’s why heat feels more oppressive with the combination of heat and humidity because our bodies can’t cool as efficiently. It’s similar to why evaporative cooling is only popular in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth but not further north on the east coast where summers are humid. 
 

‘Feels like’ temperate will also tend to be lower with increased wind speed as the wind is removing the warmth our bodies generate (if ambient temperate is significantly below our internal body temp). 
 

Thinking about the logic of the concept, I wouldn’t expect the same factors to apply to plants. That being said, it’s well documented that a freeze accompanied by wind is generally more damaging than that of an equivalent temperature if it’s still. But that’s more to do with the wind removing the temperate gradient in the air and displacing trapped pockets of warmer air (think a sensitive palm under canopy having some warmth trapped on a still night vs freezing + windy which would remove any retained warmth). 

[Dimimelbourne]

On 9/26/2025 at 3:48 AM, tim_brissy_13 said:

@Dimimelbourne it’s worth remembering that the ‘feels like’ temperate is an human made artificial concept based on a combination of ambient temperature, humidity and wind. My understanding is the idea stems from the fact that humans generate their own warmth and also sweat to cool. It’s why heat feels more oppressive with the combination of heat and humidity because our bodies can’t cool as efficiently. It’s similar to why evaporative cooling is only popular in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth but not further north on the east coast where summers are humid. 
 

‘Feels like’ temperate will also tend to be lower with increased wind speed as the wind is removing the warmth our bodies generate (if ambient temperate is significantly below our internal body temp). 
 

Thinking about the logic of the concept, I wouldn’t expect the same factors to apply to plants. That being said, it’s well documented that a freeze accompanied by wind is generally more damaging than that of an equivalent temperature if it’s still. But that’s more to do with the wind removing the temperate gradient in the air and displacing trapped pockets of warmer air (think a sensitive palm under canopy having some warmth trapped on a still night vs freezing + windy which would remove any retained warmth). 

Yes this makes sense.

what I’m hearing is yes humidity and wind play a role in how the plant is responding to the temperature of its environment but without the added element of the organisms “body” exerting its own affect ie our body heat and our heating/cooling responses.

[sonoranfans]

"feels like" temp is an artificial construct for humans only.  Humans are warm blooded as we generate heat that is dissipated.  Because our core temps are at 98F and we dissipate heat, the skin is always cooler than the core.  If the skin gets too hot, it means the body is unable to dissipate enough heat and heat stress will be felt.  If the skin gets too cool as in winter, the body is not generating enough heat and the cooling threatens to disturb core temp which can have damaging effects on our physiology.  This is a more complex subject than can be discussed without some knowledge of physics, circulatory anatomy, and engineering heat transfer concepts.   Just suffice it to say feels like is very unlikely to be useful for plants, it might be somewhat useful for other warm blooded primates.

[Looking Glass]

When it comes to plants and objects, you can consider the “feels like” temperature and “wind chill” as imaginary descriptors that don’t directly affect the real measurable temperature.  

As said above, they are a useful way of describing heat-loss processes experienced by warm blooded animals for the most part.  Wind and humidity do effect plants, but these terms were not meant to describe that.  

There is often confusion about this.  “Wind chills” that push “wind chill temperatures” below freezing do not cause water to freeze, because they don’t reflect the actual temperature.