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I've lived in several states and I swear every single one seems to have this stereotype that "it's cold one minute and hot the next". And they act like this doesn't occur in any other state.
Does your state have this saying?
I heard this in Montana and Wyoming. All. The. Time. They also acted like it got cold the day after Labor Day. As soon as that Tuesday hit it immediately dropped to the 40s.
The climate in Texas is very bipolar.....I live here in Texas
I found Texas weather to be more stable compared to other places I've lived. The Midwest seems to have weather that fluctuates the most.
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Originally Posted by Katzpur
Yup. We also have the reputation (among locals) for having the worst drivers in the country -- as does pretty much every other state.
Yep, I've heard this one too. Every place has crappy drivers, but their style of crappiness is different.
Texas drivers are clueless and have a "Jesus take the wheel" mentality. Merging across 3 lanes of traffic with no signal was the norm in Dallas.
Chicago drivers are aggressive and do dangerous things, but usually pay attention to other drivers. There are WAY fewer wrecks here than I saw in DFW, probably because people pay attention.
Iowa drivers are completely clueless, but don't do daring things like Texas drivers. If anything, they are too careful and drive too slow.
South Florida drivers are a mix of all types of crappiness.
I've heard the saying, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes" in every state I've lived in and most that I've visited for any length of time.
It was annoying when people would say it when I was a kid growing up in Upstate NY. They would announce how they were right that the weather was "changeable" upon seeing that there was a foot or two of new snow cover on the ground. Seriously, that wasn't "changeable"...it did that pretty predictably all winter long there
I've heard the saying from people in Arizona and during my time there, the weather didn't change at all. Relentlessly hot and sunny. Never saw a single cloud and pretty much the same temperatures day by day. Not sure where they got the "changeable" from.
I heard it in Michigan, now they are right because Michigan DOES have very changeable weather! Had one Fall day where it was unseasonably warm and rainy...then it turned to large hail...then the temperature dropped down to 31 and we got a surprise snowstorm that dumped 15" of snow. It dropped 36 degrees in one day. Insane weather there and that is just one example.
I also heard it in Iowa, and Iowa's weather also qualifies for changeable.
I think that those in the Midwest and Great Lakes states have valid claims about the changeable weather At least based on my experiences.
I've heard the saying from people in Arizona and during my time there, the weather didn't change at all. Relentlessly hot and sunny. Never saw a single cloud and pretty much the same temperatures day by day. Not sure where they got the "changeable" from.
Temperatures drop pretty quickly at night. I'm talking a 40 degree difference or more sometimes between highs and lows. The only thing keeping things warm out here is the sun. No humidity, nothing. So when that goes... so does the heat. That's why the West in general is known for inconsistency. Denver is highly variable for a very similar reason, amongst other things.
I guess the sun is reliable in that it will shine tomorrow, most likely, but at 9 am and 10 am in the summer there are huge differences in temperature. At 10 am it can already break triple digits on a notoriously hot day here. 9 am may be ten degrees cooler. So yes, the phrase stands.
You can't use a phrase that compares time by minute and then say the DAYS are the same. It doesn't apply changing the measurement like that. For the most part, Phoenix is pretty stable day by day. Within a day though, not really.
I even hear people say that in California, where it's patently not true.
I never (or don't remember) heard anyone say this in California when I lived there. I however did hear it said in SoFla - mostly due to the rain, but winters there can often be a rollercoaster (80s for .a few day, then 60s for another couple).
I always crack up whenever people in Miami call their own weather "bipolar." It's like "Omg pero like, yesterday it was warm and today it's freesing!" When the temperature only changed from 79 to 57 within a day. Basically if it's not the same hot humid weather it usually is, it's "bipolar." You can tell they never lived anywhere with actual seasons lol.
I think Texas truly is the most bipolar place I have lived for weather. The weather changes dramatically over a few days. Even within one day I remember we had a high of 72 and a low of 17 or something like that. The temperature dropped like a rock and by the early evening water had frozen.
I think the phrase is overused but I do agree that Texas temps can change dramatically and quickly. Just a few days ago the temps dropped 25 degrees in a couple of hours - during the day. Today the high is 56 but we have a winter storm warning starting this evening. So yeah - I do think that Texas is a land of extremes. We also get, not just spring rains, but massive spring storms with 5 inches of rain and tornadoes, every spring. Of course, some weird people like myself find that exhilarating but it's still extreme.
And we tend to get ice storms rather than just a nice dusting of snow.
But in all my travels I think that Oklahoma has more extreme weather than Texas. Oh and Arkansas too. Honestly, I think those two states have some pretty terrible weather but hey, that's just my opinion.
And even with variable areas, the fact that they vary is technically predictable as well. It's predictable, for instance, that the Great Plains will see crazy temperature swings due to periodic Arctic fronts during the cooler part of the year.
And that whole "five minute" thing is never accurate anywhere outside a short time window. And outside of specific change directions.
This only applies to northern Texas (North Texas and the Panhandle). Southern Texas (around I-10 and points south) doesn't see temp changes with that magnitude and frequency, and is among the most stable areas of the Eastern US.
And the northern Texas temp swings are nothing compared to those in points farther north. You'll see far greater temp swings in Minnesota compared to anywhere in Texas.
All this can be verified by the map I posted in the first page.
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I lived in North Texas and I live in Minnesota. I can safely say from experience that North Texas has winter temp swings. By far. Don't get me wrong I seen some crazy weather changes here too but they pale in comparison. Right now the 10 day weather forecast for Denton, where I used to live, shows the coldest low is 13 and warmest high is 63. Here in St. Paul the coldest low is -2 and warmest high is 37. In Denton we got conditions that can be classified as both winter and springlike weather. In Saint Paul it's gonna be wintry the whole time. It may get slightly above freezing but it will still be cold. In Texas it can feel like all 4 seasons in a week. Minnesota too, in the spring, but not as often or dramatic as Texas. And Texas in fall can mean highs of 90s and lows of 40s. Our falls are much more moderate than that. West Texas is similar in dramatic changes. We went from a high of 50 to a high below freezing with thick fluffy snow one year.
Denver yday was 65 high, 23 low, and that's just normal.
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