The specific heat of a working fluid flowing along a channel is measured without having to provide an explicit flow rate correction. A specific heat sensing probe is configured with a stagnation enclosure surrounding a thermal transfer sensor. The stagnation enclosure is designed to provide a stagnation chamber in throttled communication with an outside of the enclosure so that the working fluid can flow into and out of the stagnation chamber at a seepage rate substantially less than the fluid flow rate. The thermal transfer sensor is operable to exchange heat with adjacent fluid and to provide a signal representative of the quantity of heat exchanged.