An exploratory study is performed on the 850-hPa relative humidity data (RH850) extracted from the Re-Analysis Project (ERA-40) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) re-analyses covering a domain centred on western Europe (60°W-60°E, 15°N-75°N). The largest deviations between the two data archives are observed over the North Atlantic Ocean. In addition, unrealistic values of RH850 are detected in the ERA-40 re-analysis at resolutions of both 2.5° and 1.125°. There is no strong correlation between RH850 provided by ERA-40 and observations from radio sounding stations, thus ruling out a straightforward correction of the detected anomalous values. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society