Dry heat or humid? Dehumidifier question (Houston, Dallas: sale, house, buy)

[itcoastie]

We are moving from Cape Cod and have two dehumidifiers, will we still need to use them in our house in Round Rock? I have heard the heat in Austin described as humid and also described as dry… which is it? I’m confused.

[achtungpv]

If your house in RR has electric heat, I'd get a humidifier for your bedroom unless you like a sore throat, chapped lips, or dry sinuses when you wake up. It does make a world of difference. I've never needed one in the summer, spring, or fall though.

[HappyTexan]

Depends where you are coming from..a more humid climate to Texas or a more dry climate to Texas.

If you come from let's say Florida then you will find Texas dry and less humid.
If you come from let's say Arizona or Nevada then you will find Texas very humid.

Right now our temp is 87, Sunny with humidy of 41%.

I came here from Florida and found it to be a dry heat. I was used to a constant 80+% humidity. It does get humid here though when it rains in the summer.

[itcoastie]

we'll keep one just to be safe, thanks.

our whole house is electric... but i really can't see the heat being on more than a few days a year. i'm scared of the air-conditioning/electricity bill so we may be looking for help with solar panels depending on the expense.

[love roses]

There is light humidity in Austin. The most humid cities would be Houston and Corpus Christi, or at least it feels that way to me and I used to live in Houston.

[TX-Griff]

Originally Posted by itcoastie

We are moving from Cape Cod and have two dehumidifiers, will we still need to use them in our house in Round Rock? I have heard the heat in Austin described as humid and also described as dry… which is it? I’m confused.

You did say dehumidifiers, yes?

Gift 'em or sell 'em at your pre-move tag sale, you won't need 'em here and no one will buy 'em at your post-move tag sale because they don't need 'em either.

(For "some" here, a tag sale is the northern equivalent of a garage sale or a yard sale.)

TX Griff... who gifted three humidifiers, one dehumidifier and four window a/c units before moving here from CT

[itcoastie]

we are selling our 4 window ac units also (actually already sold 'em), i'm not putting them up before we move as i'm trying to force myself to get used to some heat... but we have had the coolest spring in over 20 years, just figures. lol

[jread]

You will find Austin very dry compared to Cape Cod. The past few days we've been in the high 90's with humidity around 30% and a dew point of about 60-degrees. Needless to say, it's a dry heat for the most part. When you start getting into the 70-degree dew points as in Houston and Southeast Texas, then the humidity really starts to become a factor. I think people tend to forget about the role that the dew point plays in the comfort level of the air. That's why San Diego is so comfortable even though the humidity stays around 50-60%; the dew point is down in the 50's so you never really feel the moisture in the air.

[Mckellyb]

Yeah, it depends on what you're accustomed to.

We lived in Dallas until 10 years back...moved to 9K feet of elevation in CO. When snow sublimates instead of melting, it's dry.

Then it was Portland, OR. Algae grows on south and west-facing concrete, which has no shade. This concrete was less than 18 months old in a brand-new subdivision. Grass grows 12 months of the year, too.

Nevada desert.... But it's a dry heat. Yeah, so is a pizza oven, and I'm not about to camp out next to one of those. 108F, for me, was the break point for being able to cool off while outside. After 115F, it's flat-out hazardous. Colorado was much drier, honestly.

Austin... You'll know what coasters are for, unlike those in the desert. That said, it's not horrible, though after having been in the dry country for a while, I'm having a time getting re-accustomed to 100F and 35% humidity, even though it's not that bad, in comparison to say, Savannah, GA, or pretty much anywhere in FL.

[Trainwreck20]

There is the INSIDE humidity vs the OUTSIDE humidity, as well. Because it is usually so hot in the summer, you have to run your AC pretty hard. That ends up dehumidifiying the inside air quite a bit. It can be very humid outside, but the inside air may be very dry...you can wake up with a sore throat and stuffed up nose from the drying effect. If you are coming from a humid area, you may want to consider having a humidifier for your room, at least until your body acclimates.