?? No Complaints About Hot Weather ?? (Roanoke, Lynchburg: apartment, homes, high school)

[Canine*Castle]

I don't seem to see any comments about ridiculously hot weather and long and relentless summers in the Roanoke area. The Texas forum is full of them. I have a friend who lives on Smith Mountain Lake and she tells me the summers there are hotter than her home state of Texas where I live. I certainly expect summers to be relatively warm but to compare southwest Virginia and saying it's worse than Texas heat and humidity is something I just can't quite grasp. We have summer here for about five straight months of the year and I've just got to escape it. I'm also looking for a place where the storms are not so potentially severe as in Texas and from the looks of several web sites, I will find that as well in the Roanoke area. The counties I'm most interested in are Floyd, Grayson, and Craig.

I visited the area a few summers ago and actually fell in love with the beauty. I didn't make it to Roanoke but was particularly fond of Floyd County. Of course, another trip is definite to explore more of the region. I'm not sure when but one of these summers within the next few years, I plan to stay there for about a month and check it out for myself.

[roanoker 4]

I heard a complaint from someone recently who said Roanoke had the biggest bugs she had ever seen! She had moved here from PA, lived in Florida(Bug Capital)and she was going back to PA to get away from the insects. Other than mosquitoes and knats I don't think its a big problem. But enough about bugs, I lived in Washington DC where heat and humidity is definately worse than Texas in the summer, it is something to do about the swamp that DC is built on I guess. The same goes for the eastern side of VA. Here in the higher elevations, especially Floyd, Montgomery they tend to be cooler in the summer than the valley in Roanoke. Yes to be honest it can get hot during the summer everywhere and some summers can be humid so a/c is almost
a requirement around SML, but it is still not as bad as the eastern side of VA from my observations.

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by roanoker 4

I heard a complaint from someone recently who said Roanoke had the biggest bugs she had ever seen! She had moved here from PA, lived in Florida(Bug Capital)and she was going back to PA to get away from the insects. Other than mosquitoes and knats I don't think its a big problem. But enough about bugs, I lived in Washington DC where heat and humidity is definately worse than Texas in the summer, it is something to do about the swamp that DC is built on I guess. The same goes for the eastern side of VA. Here in the higher elevations, especially Floyd, Montgomery they tend to be cooler in the summer than the valley in Roanoke. Yes to be honest it can get hot during the summer everywhere and some summers can be humid so a/c is almost
a requirement around SML, but it is still not as bad as the eastern side of VA from my observations.

I know much of Virginia is quite humid, but I didn't think the mountainous areas were that bad and I can't believe they'd last for five months of the years like in central Texas. Do you get some breaks in the summer? Texas is pretty much the same from May to October...hot and humid, hot and humid and I mean hot and terribly oppressive. The evenings improve somewhat with lower humidity, but when it's still 98 degrees at 11:00 p.m., it surely can wear one out. Texas has huge bugs too, so that wouldn't be a big deal for me.

[Blue Moon Athena]

Every location in the United States has hot, humid weather during the summer months. The only difference is how frequently such days occur. When comparing the frequency of such days in Texas to southwest Virginia, the difference is enormous.

You didn’t specify which part of Texas you wanted to compare southwest Virginia to. Texas, being a huge state, does has noticeable differences in weather. Generally speaking, the southeast part of the state (Beaumont, Galveston, and Houston) will have more days with much higher humidity than other parts of the state, due to the closer proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. But at the same time, the temperature will not be as hot as other parts. Conversely, other locations in the state (El Paso, Dallas/Ft. Worth) will have lower humidity than the southeast part, but will also have much hotter temperatures.

Are there hot, humid days in SWVA? Absolutely. But the number of times that such days occur are far, far, FAR fewer than just about anywhere in Texas. Many parts of TX experience a number of days of 100+ degree high temperatures on a routine basis. Century plus temperatures are rare in SWVA. Many parts of TX go through stretches of time lasting weeks where the daytime high is 90+ degrees. SWVA has 90+ days as well but they generally last less than one week. In TX the heat is pretty relentless for months on end. In SWVA there may be a hot, exceptionally humid stretch that lasts a few or several days, but its then followed by a cold frontal passage which drops the temperature and humidity behind it for a few/several days.

The same thing holds true for severe weather. Does SWVA get damaging thunderstorms? Of course. But in comparison to how frequently such weather occurs in TX the difference is like night and day. Tornadoes in SWVA? They happen every now and then. As I’m sure you know, in TX its rare that even three or four days in a row to pass without some location in the state experiencing a tornado. And when a tornado producing weather system moves across TX the number of tornadoes produced can be counted by the dozens, not just one or two.

Everyone is an individual but I’d estimate that out of 100 people that have a chance to experience summer weather in both locations, 99 of them would call the weather in Texas much harder to tolerate. Your friend may be that one person that doesn’t. Has it been a long time since she last lived in Texas? Perhaps her memory of how bad it really is has faded.

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by Blue Moon Athena

Every location in the United States has hot, humid weather during the summer months. The only difference is how frequently such days occur. When comparing the frequency of such days in Texas to southwest Virginia, the difference is enormous.

You didn’t specify which part of Texas you wanted to compare southwest Virginia to. Texas, being a huge state, does has noticeable differences in weather. Generally speaking, the southeast part of the state (Beaumont, Galveston, and Houston) will have more days with much higher humidity than other parts of the state, due to the closer proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. But at the same time, the temperature will not be as hot as other parts. Conversely, other locations in the state (El Paso, Dallas/Ft. Worth) will have lower humidity than the southeast part, but will also have much hotter temperatures.

Are there hot, humid days in SWVA? Absolutely. But the number of times that such days occur are far, far, FAR fewer than just about anywhere in Texas. Many parts of TX experience a number of days of 100+ degree high temperatures on a routine basis. Century plus temperatures are rare in SWVA. Many parts of TX go through stretches of time lasting weeks where the daytime high is 90+ degrees. SWVA has 90+ days as well but they generally last less than one week. In TX the heat is pretty relentless for months on end. In SWVA there may be a hot, exceptionally humid stretch that lasts a few or several days, but its then followed by a cold frontal passage which drops the temperature and humidity behind it for a few/several days.

The same thing holds true for severe weather. Does SWVA get damaging thunderstorms? Of course. But in comparison to how frequently such weather occurs in TX the difference is like night and day. Tornadoes in SWVA? They happen every now and then. As I’m sure you know, in TX its rare that even three or four days in a row to pass without some location in the state experiencing a tornado. And when a tornado producing weather system moves across TX the number of tornadoes produced can be counted by the dozens, not just one or two.

Everyone is an individual but I’d estimate that out of 100 people that have a chance to experience summer weather in both locations, 99 of them would call the weather in Texas much harder to tolerate. Your friend may be that one person that doesn’t. Has it been a long time since she last lived in Texas? Perhaps her memory of how bad it really is has faded.

This information is very helpful. I live about 65 miles south of Fort Worth and the summers are relentless with humidity and very often, days on end over 100 cooling down during the night to high 70s or low 80s.

I don't agree about humidity in all parts of the country in the summer. New Mexico and Idaho, two other places I'm looking, are quite dry. I'm originally from southern CA and I can vouch the weather there was rarely humid and oh my gosh, I had a rude awakening when I moved to Texas. I really do like the rain we get with an average of 35 inches a year so how I'd fare with less rain, I don't know.

I do agree my friend has forgotten, and I'm not really sure how long she has lived at SML. Actually, she is an ex-student at a high school in my town where I used to work and she and I reconnected on FaceBook. She is young (well, 20 years younger than I) and sometimes the young tend to forget. She comes home to Texas to see family, but I'm not sure when she last came during the hell months.

I have a friend who was raised in Texas and now lives in Georgia and he speaks of GA as you do of southwest VA regarding the number of days of heat and humidity. He gets breaks too. I'm willing to bet SW VA is even better!!! He and I visited the area together. We also liked Galax, but that's just too large of a town for me. I want small. I just thought the area was so gorgeous. We were there in June and it was very pleasant.

I pretty much figured that was how it is. I can take it for a while but the month after month is just too much for me anymore. I have done my research on tornadoes and in Floyd County, the county I'm quite interested in, has NEVER had one. In fact, that entire area has had few.

[Nebat]

I was in Roanoke last July and it was a dismal rainy day and it barely made it to 70 degrees. I was thinking it was weird since it was July and that was the high for the day. This last summer overall was more mild than recent years though and we have also had a cold winter so far, though that has ended and returned to more seasonal temps. I also have friends from the San Antonio area living here and they say that it's not nearly as hot as where they grew up. Though it does get humid, but that's an east coast thing until you get up into northern New England.

It always cracks me up when people say that the bugs here are enormous! My dad lives in Florida and they have real big bugs. I've never seen a bug here i haven't seen in PA, where I lived once upon a time. In my opinion VA has more in common bug wise with PA than with Florida or maybe Texas.

[Watchful]

We live near Houston TX and are considering ROA as a retirement spot...and were also privileged to spend 2 months there last year (basically May and June).

By the end of the summer, I looked at the history of highs and lows for the year ('09) and I think there were less than ten days where the official high got over 90 degrees.

That is quite a contrast for this Texan!

Most of our time there we kept our apartment windows open - it was only about mid-June when we started using the A/C occasionally.

Canine...I think you are pointing in a good direction. (My humble opinion!)

[zugor]

I've found that the temps in Roanoke are often 10 degrees warmer than at my place in Willis at about 2900' elevation. Roanoke is in a valley and about 1500' elevation and Smith Mtn Lake is only at 825 ft.

So hurry up and get here Canine Castle, we need more foster homes for the Floyd dogs. And they would love to live in a castle.

[norm]

Roanoke was one the the places I was considering retiring to but because of the heat and humidity I will be moving to Albuquerque.

The average heat & humidity for Roanoke in August is 85/71, for ABQ it is 89/47.

[badger74]

I lived in Austin and Lynchburg. Texas was WAY hotter for a longer period. But less humid though. You can get used to both.