Alright Austin folks: How bad is the heat really? (Spring: activities, brick)

[Need4Camaro]

It’s coming... ...hope you brought sun screen... I see the clouds breaking up out there...

[riaelise]

The humidity is disgusting...ugh...

[deepblue38]

Austin winters are not cold, except for a few scattered days here and there. I know a lot of it depends where you come from, and what you consider cold. The average high is never lower than the lower 60's in the middle of winter. If you come from the Midwest or Northeast, you will laugh at what is considered cold in Austin. This year was a rare winter, where Austin had 2 weeks of much colder than normal weather, but that was not the normal. Yes, you can get a few days where it feels more like a Midwestern winter temperature wise, but it usually rebounds quickly. Many more days are 50's to 70's for high temperatures, than below 50. Yes, it can get down in the 30's for lows, and sometimes the 20's, but once again, it doesn't typically stay there for very long.

I spend a lot of time in Phoenix for work, and I know some of the locals who have lived there a long time, think anything under 70 degrees is cold. Same thing with Los Angeles. I always laugh, because I spent many years in the Midwest and Denver, so 50's and 60's seem really mild to me in the winter.

[10scoachrick]

Yep...we're gonna get a taste of it over the next few days, even though it will "only" be in the low 90s.

[bostonguy1960]

It's 10:20 pm in Austin, and I just checked the weather for the all-important dew point.

The temp is 77, the dew point temp is 73! Humidity is 73% or so. Yucky!

Most don't follow or understand the dewpoint, but as a weather geek, I do look at many cities in warm weather to check the dew point.

Here in Boston, the weatherman will mention dewpoint in the summer and even predict them for the next day sometimes when in a muggy stretch. They'll point to a dewpoint thermometer of various colors indicating dewpoint severity. They'll instruct that a dewpoint under 60 degrees is comfortable but 60 and over gets muggy. 70 is tropical. A 75 and over dewpoint is horrific to many people unless they enjoy that environment. 80 and above is rare in most cities, even Texas citites, except maybe a few summer peaks.

In the middle of an Austin summer, the daytime temp can be 95 to 100+ plus, and even worse the dew point is 65 to 70+. Muggy! Sure, it's not 100% humidity, because the temp and dewpoint aren't matching. But this just shows that it doesn't have to be 90%-100% humidity to feel unbearable! I can't do the math, but if it's 100 degrees and the dewpoint is 65, the relative humidity is around 40%, perhaps? Seems comfy if checking online. But not in person. So it appears as low humidity -- but you need to check the dewpoint! And 100 degrees with a 65 or higher dew is muggy!

The highest dewpoints I see in the U.S. top out at 80 to 82 degrees, but usually not all sumner. It's usually some Texas cities, St. Louis, Tampa, Miami, Hilton Head, New Orleans. In Boston, we have a few days with dewpoints of 70 to 75.

[bostonguy1960]

Oh, and it seems at this moment in May, Austin and Houston are the muggiest major cities in America!

(I had just checked several other often muggy U.S. cities.)

Dewpoints, at 10:40 pm Texas time, are 72 or 73 degrees at bedtime in Austin and Houston! It gets worse in summer. Corpus Christi and Galveston are even worse tonight, about 73 to 76 degree dewpoints! Even Miami, Tampa and New Orleans, though in the mid 70s at bedtime tonight, have dewpoints of a more manageable 66 degrees. Muggy, but not horrific. But yes, those places will regularly hit dewpoints of 70 to 80+ later in the summer, like parts of Texas.

Yes, I've often read here or heard from travellers from Austin that it's a dry heat. Not in the summer, baby!

No, I've never been to Austin, I just look at weather stats for it daily over the years.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by bostonguy1960

Oh, and it seems at this moment in May, Austin and Houston are the muggiest major cities in America!

(I had just checked several other often muggy U.S. cities.)

Dewpoints, at 10:40 pm Texas time, are 72 or 73 degrees at bedtime in Austin and Houston! It gets worse in summer. Corpus Christi and Galveston are even worse tonight, about 73 to 76 degree dewpoints! Even Miami, Tampa and New Orleans, though in the mid 70s at bedtime tonight, have dewpoints of a more manageable 66 degrees. Muggy, but not horrific. But yes, those places will regularly hit dewpoints of 70 to 80+ later in the summer, like parts of Texas.

Yes, I've often read here or heard from travellers from Austin that it's a dry heat. Not in the summer, baby!

No, I've never been to Austin, I just look at weather stats for it daily over the years.

We moved here in June, '08. It was a DRY heat for the NEXT FIVE YEARS!!!
Record-setting heat, drought, heat AND drought...for FIVE years!!! Crunchy grass at sunrise...that's DRY.


Most years since '13 have been a mix; but with some very hot and dry spells thrown in just to keep us guessing.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by bostonguy1960

Oh, and it seems at this moment in May, Austin and Houston are the muggiest major cities in America!

(I had just checked several other often muggy U.S. cities.)

Dewpoints, at 10:40 pm Texas time, are 72 or 73 degrees at bedtime in Austin and Houston! It gets worse in summer. Corpus Christi and Galveston are even worse tonight, about 73 to 76 degree dewpoints! Even Miami, Tampa and New Orleans, though in the mid 70s at bedtime tonight, have dewpoints of a more manageable 66 degrees. Muggy, but not horrific. But yes, those places will regularly hit dewpoints of 70 to 80+ later in the summer, like parts of Texas.

Yes, I've often read here or heard from travellers from Austin that it's a dry heat. Not in the summer, baby!

No, I've never been to Austin, I just look at weather stats for it daily over the years.

For someone who has never been here, you sure nailed it.

It is muggy as hell much of the time in Spring/Summer. Right now it is 81 with 77 percent humidity, absolutely disgusting. The "feels like" temps here after often higher than the actual temp. People like to say "well it isn't as bad as Florida"...but that's not saying much. I garden and working out there right now is pure torture.

I don't do well with humidity...heat I can take, but humidity makes me faint and I have to go back inside.

I didn't move here because of the weather...

[Brownpine]

when I lived in NYC, my favorite season was summer despite the humidity. When I moved to Austin, my favorite season was the winter b/c the summer was unbearably hot. Strap up!

[Taynxtlvl]

Originally Posted by bostonguy1960

Oh, and it seems at this moment in May, Austin and Houston are the muggiest major cities in America!

(I had just checked several other often muggy U.S. cities.)

Dewpoints, at 10:40 pm Texas time, are 72 or 73 degrees at bedtime in Austin and Houston! It gets worse in summer. Corpus Christi and Galveston are even worse tonight, about 73 to 76 degree dewpoints! Even Miami, Tampa and New Orleans, though in the mid 70s at bedtime tonight, have dewpoints of a more manageable 66 degrees. Muggy, but not horrific. But yes, those places will regularly hit dewpoints of 70 to 80+ later in the summer, like parts of Texas.

Yes, I've often read here or heard from travelers from Austin that it's a dry heat. Not in the summer, baby!

No, I've never been to Austin, I just look at weather stats for it daily over the years.

But in Texas you have 2 Summers. The first half of "Summer Pt. 1" May and June are warm upper 80's low 90s and rainy. May is the rainiest month in Austin climatologically speaking followed by June and yes it is definitely humid. Like Houston, New Orleans humid. Then "Summer Pt. 2" comes also known as hell season. Sometime around July 4th and clear through mid-September the humidity falls away but is replaced by 97,99, 102, 103, 101, 105, 99 for weeks and weeks and weeks and there will be little to no rain. Then Autumn shows up with little to no warning.