Dehumidifying cooling apparatus and method are provided for an electronics rack. The apparatus includes an air-to-liquid heat exchanger disposed at an air inlet or outlet side of the rack, wherein air flows through the rack from the air inlet to the air outlet side. The heat exchanger is positioned for air passing through the electronics rack to pass across the heat exchanger, and is in fluid communication with a coolant loop for passing coolant therethrough at a temperature below a dew point temperature of the air passing across the heat exchanger so that air passing across the heat exchanger is dehumidified and cooled. A condensate collector, disposed below the heat exchanger, collects liquid condensate from the dehumidifying of air passing through the electronics rack, wherein the heat exchanger includes a plurality of sloped surfaces configured to facilitate drainage of liquid condensate from the heat exchanger to the condensate collector.