SWF Weather (Fort Myers: homes, buy, living in)

[kroeran]

this is what we have for weather, again, if no further comments, we will ask Frank to load it at the bottom of the fun things sticky. The FAQ sticky will be for everything else.

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WEATHER - SWF does not get any snow, but there are about five months of very hot summers (>90F), often with high humidity dew points (>70F DP ) and mid-December to mid-February can have brief cold snaps (<70F). The most reliable pleasant weather is October/November and March/April. If thinking of moving here year round, make sure you spend some time here in summer, when everyone runs from their cars to inside to escape the often oppressive heat, so that you know what you are signing up for. Most people adapt, but some leave Florida due to the summers or are unhappy about it. This is of course not an issue for snowbirds who go back north in the summer, or for second home people who spend their stays in the pool or at the beach. Beach area homes are slightly cooler than inland area homes in the summer. Don't even think about living in SWF without AC in the summer. For some, sitting inside looking out at a hot sunny day is less depressing than looking at snow and gray skies. Weather forecasts in the summer may show rain for many days, but this is most often just an afternoon tropical shower, with sunny skies the rest of the day. You need to experience all this yourself, BEFORE you commit to a purchase. Watch for these dewpoints in summer forecasts when temps are above 90F and take precautions (a long bike ride at 81°F dewpoint would be a bad idea): Dewpoints > 80 °F Severely high, even deadly for asthma related illnesses | 75 – 80 °F Extremely uncomfortable | 70 – 74 °F Quite uncomfortable | 65 – 69 °F Somewhat uncomfortable.

[hiknapster]

I think it is fine. Maybe a little more than anyone needs, but fine. Like I said, most people are fine with the weather. If you are retired and older then there is a small chance of not being able to tolerate the extreme heat as well as the extreme cold. Working in it is a whole different issue.

I think that we need to say:

Bear in mind that often the heat and humidity can be the same or higher where you now live but the dew point is usually much higher in swFlorida and that will make a big difference in comfort.

You can probably get rid of the don't buy without A/C. I would think that 99.9 percent of people know that. And leave out the actual dew point numbers because it is just gibberish to most folks.

Here's my edit, for what it is worth:

WEATHER - SWF does not get any snow, but there are about five months of very hot summers (>90F), often with high humidity dew points (>70F DP ) and mid-December to mid-February can have brief cold snaps where nights can dip into the 30s and 40s, but usually only for a week or two.

The most reliable pleasant weather is October/November and March/April. If thinking of moving here year round, make sure you spend some time here in summer, when everyone runs from their cars to inside to escape the often oppressive heat, so that you know what you are signing up for. Most people adapt, but some leave Florida due to the summers or are unhappy about it.


This is of course not an issue for snowbirds who go back north in the summer, or for second home people who spend their stays in the pool or at the beach. Beach area homes are slightly cooler than inland area homes in the summer. For some, sitting inside looking out at a hot sunny day is less depressing than looking at snow and gray skies.

Weather forecasts in the summer may show rain for many days, but this is most often just an afternoon tropical shower, with sunny skies the rest of the day. You need to experience all this yourself, BEFORE you commit to a purchase.

Bear in mind that often the heat and humidity can be the same or higher where you now live but the dew point is usually much higher in swFlorida and that will make a big difference in comfort. But, once again, most people that live year-round eventually acclimate.

[kroeran]

excellent. so I did a bit more studying on this...

so, dewpoint temperature is a proxy for the absolute amount of H2O per volume of air, which we express as the temperature at which that water starts condensing (holding Barometric pressure constant)

(relative) humidity (RH), expresses the gap in percentage terms between the actual temperature and the usually lower dewpoint temperature, except at 100% RH.

I still don't see how you can have a specific X temperature reading and specific Y relative humidity reading, and then have different dew point temperatures?

man this is hard

[hiknapster]

Everything you ever wanted to know about dew point but were afraid to ask. Oh, wait. You did ask.

Dew point - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[kroeran]

Frank: please append Hiks final draft below the Dangerous Things to do in the Fun things to do sticky


WEATHER - SWF does not get any snow, but there are about five months of very hot summers (>90F), often with high humidity dew points (>70F DP ) and mid-December to mid-February can have brief cold snaps where nights can dip into the 30s and 40s, but usually only for a week or two.

The most reliable pleasant weather is October/November and March/April. If thinking of moving here year round, make sure you spend some time here in summer, when everyone runs from their cars to inside to escape the often oppressive heat, so that you know what you are signing up for. Most people adapt, but some leave Florida due to the summers or are unhappy about it.

This is of course not an issue for snowbirds who go back north in the summer, or for second home people who spend their stays in the pool or at the beach. Beach area homes are slightly cooler than inland area homes in the summer. For some, sitting inside looking out at a hot sunny day is less depressing than looking at snow and gray skies.

Weather forecasts in the summer may show rain for many days, but this is most often just an afternoon tropical shower, with sunny skies the rest of the day. You need to experience all this yourself, BEFORE you commit to a purchase.

Bear in mind that often the heat and humidity can be the same or higher where you now live but the dew point is usually much higher in SW Florida and that will make a big difference in comfort. But, once again, most people that live year-round eventually acclimate.

[kroeran]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Everything you ever wanted to know about dew point but were afraid to ask. Oh, wait. You did ask.

Dew point - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

poking around came upon this...interesting tool to research actual historical dew point in Fort Myers...

History : Weather Underground

few things to note-
- the stability of dewpoint throughout a month, apart from daily cycle
- looking at recent data, August and September are the clear hard months for average dew points at 74 F

[hiknapster]

From your link:

April 2010 dewpoints HIGH 75 °F AVERAGE 62 °F LOW 47 °F

May 2010 dewpoints HIGH 75 °F AVERAGE 69 °F LOW 61 °F

June 20190 dewpoints HIGH 79 °F AVERAGE 73 °F LOW 62 °F

July 2010 dewpoints HIGH 79 °F AVERAGE 74 °F LOW 64 °F

August 2010 dewpoints HIGH 79 °F AVERAGE 75 °F LOW 68 °F

September 2010 dewpoints HIGH 78 °F AVERAGE 72 °F LOW 59 °F

Note that there was a dewpoint high of 70°F in February, a dewpoint high of 72 °F in March, and so far a dewpoint high of 70 °F in October, and this was a historically cold winter. The year before, the dewpoint high in March was 74 °F and the dewpoint high in October was 77 °F.

Of course, bearing in mind that 75 – 80 °F is extremely uncomfortable and 70 – 74 °F is quite uncomfortable according to the National Weather Service.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by kroeran

I still don't see how you can have a specific X temperature reading and specific Y relative humidity reading, and then have different dew point temperatures?

man this is hard

This board is getting very weird. We're talking about weather here, not chromosomes. LOL

Now, back to the simple pleasures in life. The current temperature is 56 F.

Refreshing!

[ChrisA70]

Originally Posted by justNancy

This board is getting very weird. We're talking about weather here, not chromosomes. LOL

Now, back to the simple pleasures in life. The current temperature is 56 F.

Refreshing!

Thank you!!!! It's simple. October-March nice, April-Sept is pretty much humid, hot, hell. Easy as that.

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL out today and right now at 10PM it is 70, feels like 70, 50% humidity, and a 52 dew point. AWESOME!!!