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Wow this is amazing. And funny. Are the winters in denver colder than Houston? Sure. I’ll take denver for the other 8-9 months. But to each their own. Also, I never turned on the heater in denver. Got too hot.
Houston got some snow a couple years ago so it can get cold too. But when the grid fails you can’t get that heater going
Also a low of 80 sounds awful. Especially with humidity
The average year round temperature in Houston is 70 degrees. That is a temperature where rh% does not have a meaningful impact on the heat index
The average day in houston has a high of 80 degrees and a low of 60 degrees with a daily average of 70. That sounds pretty good to me, and I think also to you since you seemed happy with your 80 degrees high today.
Denver has an average year round temperature of 51 degrees. The average high 65 degrees average low 37 degrees. That is decent but I think the morning temperature is way too cold
I know some people would prefer the "average Denver" day over the "average Houston" day but I don't think realistically that many. Probably many would pick 65 high over 80 high, but how many would pick 50 degrees over 70? or 37 degrees over 60? I don't think it would be as many
To be fair, Houston has just 29 days a year on 'average' where the high is between 78-82 and the low between 58-62. So that means your Houston day isn't actually like that 330+ days a year even on average. And reality of course tends to be quite different from averages because even the 'average' high for a specific day tends to be made up of many individual data points.
In 2022 the following days where "average" Houston days by the standard used here:
December 3rd
November 2nd
October 24th
April 26th
April 18th
April 15th
April 6th
February 16th
So there were a total of 8 days in 2022 that met these standards. It's not entirely surprising given that these conditions are essentially impossible to meet between May and September as nights just don't cool down that much even when there's tropical systems soaking the area in rain and depressing the daytime temps. And in the cold season of course there's many days where temps won't get near 80 during the day and nights are often too cold. April is just about the only month where this supposed 'average' Houston weather would be deemed pretty normal.
I personally would prefer Houston's climate over many others in the country and world, but the reality of it is that it's just a very warm version of a typical U.S. Eastern climate. Hot, humid summers coupled with variable winters influenced by the jet stream, frontal movement etc. Due to the very Southern location the winters are fairly described as better than most other places outside CA and FL with more mild days, while the summers are about as hot and humid as it gets and thus likely loathed by a large % of people.
To be fair, Houston has just 29 days a year on 'average' where the high is between 78-82 and the low between 58-62. So that means your Houston day isn't actually like that 330+ days a year even on average. And reality of course tends to be quite different from averages because even the 'average' high for a specific day tends to be made up of many individual data points.
In 2022 the following days where "average" Houston days by the standard used here:
December 3rd
November 2nd
October 24th
April 26th
April 18th
April 15th
April 6th
February 16th
So there were a total of 8 days in 2022 that met these standards. It's not entirely surprising given that these conditions are essentially impossible to meet between May and September as nights just don't cool down that much even when there's tropical systems soaking the area in rain and depressing the daytime temps. And in the cold season of course there's many days where temps won't get near 80 during the day and nights are often too cold. April is just about the only month where this supposed 'average' Houston weather would be deemed pretty normal.
I personally would prefer Houston's climate over many others in the country and world, but the reality of it is that it's just a very warm version of a typical U.S. Eastern climate. Hot, humid summers coupled with variable winters influenced by the jet stream, frontal movement etc. Due to the very Southern location the winters are fairly described as better than most other places outside CA and FL with more mild days, while the summers are about as hot and humid as it gets and thus likely loathed by a large % of people.
Well generally days with highs in the 70s and 80s are extremely common in Houston. As well as evenings in the 50s and 60s are common.
Last year(2022) had 155 days in the 70s and 80s for Houston. The year before(2021)had 207 days.
362 days out of 2 years, almost every other day had highs around 80.
the most common months: April, October, March (25+ days per month). Every month had days with highs in the 70s and 80s. The least common month being August.
Last year(2022) had 123 nights in the 50s and 60s for Houston. The year before(2021) had 149 nights. So less common with only 37% of nights falling in this range over the last two years. October, April, December, March, and May had more of half their nights in this range. November and September are close to half. I think for transparency it should be mentioned that almost every single night in the summer is above 70 lows.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaylord_Focker
630 pm. Houston’s heat index is 103
530 pm. Denver’s is 74. Maybe that’s too cold for dead of summer. Is that the argument?
No the argument would be about the majority of days.
In this age of artificial climate control, it's not that important... if you have the POWER.
. . .
HOWEVER, if you imagine the situation in the 19th century, before widespread electrical power, air conditioning and central heating, there is a definite preference for the colder climates... especially in the United States.
You can "bundle up" and keep warm in the cold, and hot / dry can be tolerated with evaporation cooling, but when it's hot / humid, you're not going to find much relief.
. . .
IF there is a protracted period of no power, etc, etc, THEN folks will find it miserable in the hot / humid areas... in general. (Examine indigenous adaptations to such climates - ex: the Amazonian jungle hut - a roofed area, with open walls - hammocks)
. . .
SO, if one was planning their retirement haven, it might be useful to consider how well such areas will fare without fuel, electricity, deliveries, utilities, etc.
(Think post-hurricane, post-tornado, post-forest fire, post-storm surge, post-mud slide, etc, etc)
And avoid buildings taller than 4 or 5 stories, if the power is out, and elevators / lifts cease operating. Are there alternatives, like wheelchair friendly ramps?
IMHO, long term prosperity will be found in areas close to reliable, inexpensive transportation (navigable water, port cities, railroad corridors), access to hydropower (sustainable, renewable), and a robust farming community in the general area. (Farmer's market, road side stands, etc)
Living accommodations should be functional even when there is no power, etc. Think autonomous, frugal, resilient, disaster resistant, and superinsulated. (add universal access, too)
Having edible landscaping is an added plus (permaculture, orchards, fish ponds, etc). Ditto, for low labor gardening (elevated beds, no-bend, chinampas, aquaculture, etc).
A few years ago I did a daily comparison between Houston and Buffalo weather over a 1 year period. Not averages, but compare day for day. This is based on personal comfort levels - NOT even accounting for extreme weather events. I was considering moving to different cities (including Portland, Seattle, and Charlotte) and really wanted to understand how places compared, and not just look at "averages."
The criteria I used for "bad" days is as follows:
High Temperature above 90 - hot to me
Low Temperature above 70 - uncomfortable sleeping weather
Low temperature below 15 - cold to most people, but to me 15-25 is a comfortable dry cold.
Low temperature below 0 - bone cold
Temperatures in the 30s and 40s with rain - wet and cold is just miserable weather
Rain greater than 0.1 inch or snow greater than 1 inch - nuisance precipitation, slight impact to daily activities
Wet snow or ice storm with greater than 0.1 inch water - sloppy, heavy, miserable
Snowfall day greater than 6 inches - may interrupt business or traffic
Rain day greater than 1 inch - may interrupt outdoor daily activities
For every violation of the criteria on a given day, I added a point to the city's totals. The higher the points, the greater my personal "discomfort." A single day can accumulate more than 1 point.
For the 4 months of official summer (6/21-9/21) Houston had 193 events that violated my "comfort" criteria. 8 days had 0 discomfort.
For the 4 months of official winter (12/21-3/21) Buffalo had 92 events that violated my "comfort" criteria. 33 days had 0 discomfort.
Expanding things out for an "unofficial" 5 month season length.
For May 15 to Oct 15 Houston had 303
For Nov 15 to Apr 15 Buffalo had 144
So by either count Buffalo "wins" over Houston when it comes to climate comparisons by my comfort preferences. I get that some people have different comfort levels, or have no problem dealing with sun/rain/heat/drought versus a little bit of cold and snow. But for the most "extreme" weather, Houston most certainly is worse.
In Houston during the above time period Hurricane Harvey made landfall, and the Houston area received as much as 60 inches of rain in just that one event with catastrophic flooding killing 36 people, flooding over 150,000 homes, and resulting in $150B in damages. 44 high temperature records were broken in 2017. Snow fell across SE Texas in December, and Winter Storm Warnings were issued in January. Houston experienced drought conditions through the end of this period. Between May 1 and Oct 31, there were 127 days (out of 180) with high temperatures above 90 degrees, above average for Houston.
For "extreme" events in Buffalo, there was really nothing major during this time. Little snow (0.2 inches) fell in November, but the rest of the winter had only slightly above normal snow for the season. The biggest events were a January storm of 6 inches, and back to back snow days in early March accumulating 12 inches total. Only the January storm had impacts due to low visibility. Between Nov 1 and April 30, there were 37 days (out of 180) with 1 or more inches of snow, and a total of 83 days with 1 inch of snow or more on the ground, about average over the long term (though highly variable).
Lived in Houston during this time period, so I got to personally experience Harvey (I stayed at home during the storm). I also now live in Buffalo, so I was able to personally experience the Christmas Blizzard that occurred this past winter. 1000% I will take Buffalo "extreme" over Houston "extreme" - I had no fear for my life or property during the blizzard, but the impacts of the hurricane were dangerous and unpredictable and it is something that I would never wish to experience ever again. Within 3 to 5 days of the blizzard - possibly the worst in its history - the city was already back to operating almost normally. Houston took months to recover, and some places never did.
Last edited by RocketSci; 07-01-2023 at 02:10 PM..
Here's my deal: I'd rather not look at piles of dirty snow in parking lots in March and April. I'd rather be able to use my fire pit all winter long, which means that there are very few evenings or nights where it's too cold to sit outside around the fire pit.
^You may have snow in April, but it is relatively rare and to be honest, winters are more milder than in the past.
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