Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'd have to say that the humidity of the South East is much worse that the seering heat of the South West.
If I had to choose (based only on the weather) between say... Los Angeles and Houston, I'd choose L.A. The Pacific is much cooler than the Gulf of Mexico and the temperatures in L.A. actually are a bit lower. If I had to choose between Pheonix and Atlanta ? I hate the humidity and the fact that on the hottest days, it never seems to get cool - even at night. At least in Atlanta (for the time being) I could at least sit in the shade. I'd pick Atlanta.
One thing that's clear is that the kind of lifestyle that Americans who live in the Southeast or the Southwest lead is not really well suited to those hot climates. For one, they build ridiculous Northern European style wooden homes that are eaten by termites. Nobody elsewhere in the world at those latitudes builds permanent dwellings out of those materials.
What you'll also find is that to escape the heat, people from India to Southern Europe tend to come into work early, close shop in the afternoon to sleep/rest, and then open up again in the evening late into the night. It's quite effective. The usual 8-5 Western work day doesn't make as much sense in these hot climates, when you expose yourself to the brunt of the heat.
Agreed. I have noticed this for years now but nobody seems to care. It appears to me that people do it because they have "always done it this way". The sunbelt (ie SW and SE) always seems more concerned with making money than anything else. The homes built in these areas are a total misfit IMO. Not to mention that business attire is way too toasty for the hot summer weather. But every mans heroes down here are the "land barons" of old. I wish people would use that logical sense they all possess rather than the sentiment of their souls.
The Southeast I would say is MUCH worse if you are not in a mountainous section. The Southwest gets very hot, but it does not get humid. The Southeast is both hot and humid. Humidity can cause it to feel much hotter than it actually is. 100 degrees in the Southeast is brutally hot. 100 degrees in the Southwest is hot, but not enough to make you sweat buckets generally. I was amazed at the difference of 100 degrees in Arizona versus 100 degrees in Louisiana.
Both are pretty miserable but I went with the Southeast because even though it may only be 95 degrees the humidity makes it 110!!! At least the 110 degrees in the Southwest is dry and tolerable!
Agreed that both suck .... but air conditioning works better with
dry air. Any place with mosquitoes like the Southeast/Midwest
makes for a miserable summer.
I don't get why people say the Midwest has miserable summers?!?!?! maybe the lower midwest such as MO, southern IL, southern IN, Southern OH, but once you get to Chicago-Detroit-Cleveland latitude summers are pretty awesome, the upper midwest has GREAT summers, IMO
Coming from a native Washingtonian (the left coast one lol), I'd have to say the south/southeast. While Seattle is miserable during rare heatwaves (over 100) due to the complete lack of air conditioning, the time I spent working in Corpus Christi last August was HORRIFIC.
Every day, I walked maybe 20 ft from the hotel entrance to my car...and was thoroughly soaked from head to toe. Makeup--ruined. Hair--looked like I'd been electrocuted. Yuck!
Here in eastern Indiana we also have the humidity problem, but nowhere near what southern TX was like.
Still don't fathom how the women I worked with looked fresh as a daisy...must've used Bondo Hairspray.
I was just in Vegas yesterday during 100+ weather and I gotta say it really wasn't as bad as I thought. Sure it was HOT, but there was no humidity, so it wasn't too bad. I wouldn't be able to handle the humidity in the Southeast, though. It's already bad enough up here.
The SouthWest is FAR better, IMO. I can't stand muggy weather.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
