Measurements, made in different laboratories, of absorption by water vapor in microwave windows are compared with models for the water vapor continuum. A reanalysis of some of these measurements leads to the conclusion that the laboratory data are best represented by a combination of Liėbe's <1987> millimeter-wave propagation model (MPM) for the foreign-broadened component of the water continuum and the 1993 version of MPM for the self-broadened component. This combined model is validated by comparison with measurements of atmospheric microwave emission. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union