How hard is it to get throught the summer, really? (Tampa: home, luxury)

[algia]

Good for you, but you have to agree that not everyone IS LIKE YOU!


Otherwise we would all be twins.... and I am pretty sure I'm an only child!

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

The thing is that those of us that like the heat do not have the AC running all day and night.

I can breathe just fine outside during the summer.

The only time I can remember getting overheated was when I had 60 stumps to grind one weekend. That was due to the heat coming off the motor of the stump grinder though.

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by algia

Good for you, but you have to agree that not everyone IS LIKE YOU!

Otherwise we would all be twins.... and I am pretty sure I'm an only child!

I agree we are not all alike, that is why I said "some of us" and "I".

This was in response to you saying,

Originally Posted by algia

.AlaskaKash said it best just how you burn your heat up north you will be burning your AC down here.....it would be really foolish to think or expect that you can go through the summers here without the ac running all day and night long..

[MarvinStarvin]

its that hot here,yes.if the state had an energy black out in the summer for a week.alot of people would die.its also why many people didnt start moving here til a/c was perfected.now the only thing that florida needs to do is perfect decent paying jobs here so folks can make a living here.(might never happen) Goodluck.

[Maggi07]

I'm going to find this thread this coming August and let you all know how I do.

Thanks for all your responses!

[graphix]

Originally Posted by thethinktank

I'd take that wager in a heartbeat. Two times.

During a recent snowstorm, on the 45 minute drive from Iowa City to Davenport, I counted 55 cars and 12 semis on the median and the ditches to the sides. No exaggeration. Two of those semis literally had their trailers bent in half. Having lived here for about two-and-a-half years (after 8 in chicago and 19 in detroit), I usually experience this a good three or four times a winter, and I rarely drive on the freeway. It brings new meaning to the phrase "white knuckle driving".

Driving in snow has a lot more to it than just poor visibility (white outs cut visibility to a good 25 feet), but roads that redefine the word "slick", where a single slip outside of the fading tire tracks of the car ahead of you can put you in the ditch. I've seen many freeways blocked off by police with flares, and never once seen that as a result of rain.

You get the same problems with rain, my friend. Also, the beginning of a rain storm brings the oils out of the road, so for the first 30 minutes to an hour the roads are super slick. I've seen plenty of cars pull off, struck, and going really slow with hazard lights on. Generally one accident derails the entire interstate so you won't end up with 50+ off the side. If it didn't there'd be much more.

25ft is bad, but I've been in such a heavy rain that even standing outside with no glass I couldn't see more than 15ft. In the car and sheeting, it's much worse. In fact, most of the heavy rains are worse than when a hurricane rolls through. The hurricanes are only more devastating because they last longer because they move slower.

There's also the problem that many of the roads in the area are poor with respect to drainage and can cause you to hydroplane or pull your car towards the sidewalk if you drive too quickly through them.

Trust me, it's a much different rain than you're used to. Don't take it lightly. The people that crash are the ones that thought, "what's the big deal with rain?" Also, if that happens to you on some of the bridges, where it gets really gusty, you could easily end up over the side and into the bay.

Originally Posted by thethinktank

That aside, I'm moving to Florida this May, having visited four weeks a year for the last ten years. I don't pretend to have much experience with how difficult driving can be during those heavy rains, although I've been through several. I've seen the same up here, especially during the flood of 2008.

That was pretty heavy rainfall, over an extended time period. It was also caused by abnormal levels of snow melting and rivers rising out of their banks.

I'm not going to belittle that tragedy, but there are a few things to consider. Your region is not set up to handle intense rainfall. The average for the month was 15-20 inches of rain. Some places only get about 24 inches a year. We get roughly double that with 66% of it in the summer. In August we average almost 8 inches. Our average rainfall is half to more than half of one of the worst rains on record up there and that's with about 16 days of rain. That's half an inch every day it rains. When you consider that it rains for about an hour max, that's a lot of rain at one time. That's roughly the same average that you received but if it only rained an hour each day. From what I saw on the news it was just a constant rain.

Last year I was unemployed for a time. It rained one afternoon and there were rapids on my brick street.

I'm telling you, it's a completely different animal. And if it's an abnormal amount, like happened to us last year, you could get 3 inches in a single storm or 10 inches in a day.[/quote]

Originally Posted by thethinktank

Two degree weather, a 12-inch snowstorm with 3 foot snow drifts on your driveway where each shovel load weighs ~ 25 pounds ain't any kind of fun. No exaggeration, no hyperbole.

To be quite honest, I really wouldn't mind.

Originally Posted by thethinktank

Oh come on now...

Yes, I was stretching it, but I really wasn't kidding. Some older places can have quite slippery stoops, especially if it's rained. Protip: walking on wet surfaces with flip flops isn't a good idea!

Originally Posted by thethinktank

The red dot is my house, june of 2008.

I'm sorry. That really sucks. We've been lucky regarding hurricanes, but the last time a huge one hit Tampa it brought a 10-12ft storm surge.

Originally Posted by thethinktank

Those "snow days" happen to prevent death. Those snow drifts cause them. And I'd love to see a comparison between snowstorm deaths and lightning deaths.

There's about 10 in FL each year, however it's a lot more unpredictable than a snowstorm. I grabbed this off a fact sheet: nearly 50 lightning bolts strike each square mile of Tampa Bay annually. I also learned three new things. 1. Only 10% of those struck die—i.e. 100 are actually hit in FL. Apparently the "Great Blizzard of '93" killed 300. So they're probably comparable on average but I can't say for sure. 2. 70% are seriously injured for life. And 3. Our lightning is apparently stronger on average than lightning in other places.

I would imagine, having never been in one, that a snowstorm can't really happen upon you immediately and kill you unless you get trapped by and are unprepared. Perhaps driving and other factors contribute as well. Lightning can just kill you, at random, and actually without signs of a nearby thunderstorm. I've been crazy enough to photograph it and I can vouch that it can come from out of nowhere.

Originally Posted by thethinktank

Back to the original point of this thread, I can definitely agree with the "grass is greener" philosophy. Hey, I'm jaded, and can't wait to be joining the rest of you in Tampa in two months. But let this comment be a testament to the fact that the grass certainly isn't greener up here-- especially when its dead and covered with snow for five to six months.

You should see my lawn.

[graphix]

Originally Posted by tilli

People do slip on wet pavement and concrete and break bones, especially when they try to run out of a torrential downpour on mossy sidewalks. Just walk, people - you are going to be soaked to the bone either way, might as well pay attention to where you are placing your steps.

All things I was trying to get at. Sidewalks can get much slipperier than people think. I was stretching to find a comparison, but I wasn't joking. And you better take your time if the place has tile outside!

I always just walk and I never carry an umbrella. They're just useless implements to find places for that will leave puddles and you'll get more wet running—as per Mythbusters—or fiddling with umbrellas.

Originally Posted by tilli

Rain causes flooding that will kill your engine if you try to drive through it. I see it all the time. Puddles can be deceptively deep. I knew a girl once who had a little convertible. One day the thundershower was unusually long. Her car was up to the windows in water due to a clogged drain in the parking lot. It miraculously started and she was able to move it to higher ground, but the interior carpet and upholstery had been thoroughly soaked and it mildewed basically overnight. It was never the same.

Every time it rains hard they show cars flooded out on the news. It's almost always in South Tampa too.

Really I'm starting to think that this is stuff that can't really be told. I guess you have to experience it to believe it. I wish I had taken a photo of my street when it rained pretty heavily. Maybe I did. I should look.

Originally Posted by MarvinStarvin

its that hot here,yes.if the state had an energy black out in the summer for a week.alot of people would die.its also why many people didnt start moving here til a/c was perfected.now the only thing that florida needs to do is perfect decent paying jobs here so folks can make a living here.(might never happen) Goodluck.

Even without a blackout some people still do, granted they're usually elderly.

[graphix]

Couldn't add pictures for some reason, but I had nothing great.

I did find a heat index chart. Sometimes they mention it on the news, but only vaguely as in it's really high today or whatever, but not as much as wind chill as was said before. With wind chill they actually give a "feels like" temperature. If they did that with the heat index you'd be afraid to leave your house.

Anyway, if you look at the chart, you'll find that Tampa's average of 90% humidity and 90 degrees in the summer equate to 122 degrees. And I believe that these charts actually show shade values. One chart I found said to add 15 degrees to it for sun. That's 137 degrees F. I'd say that it's felt like that before. I had no idea the index was that high. No wonder why I hate the summer heat and find it unbearable—and thought my car was on fire.

[tilli]

No wonder why I hate the summer heat and find it unbearable—and thought my car was on fire.

That reminds me - when you get here, if they aren't already, get your windows tinted the darkest legal tint. * It makes a huge difference. Park in the shade if at all possible, and put a sun shade in your windshield. When you first get in your car, roll down the windows and let the superheated air out (so you can breathe) and your AC won't have to work so hard.

* 28 VLT% for front windows, 15 VLT% for rear, no more than 25% reflective, dual side mirrors required if back is tinted, only a strip along the top allowed on front windshield)

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by graphix

Couldn't add pictures for some reason, but I had nothing great.

I did find a heat index chart. Sometimes they mention it on the news, but only vaguely as in it's really high today or whatever, but not as much as wind chill as was said before. With wind chill they actually give a "feels like" temperature. If they did that with the heat index you'd be afraid to leave your house.

Anyway, if you look at the chart, you'll find that Tampa's average of 90% humidity and 90 degrees in the summer equate to 122 degrees. And I believe that these charts actually show shade values. One chart I found said to add 15 degrees to it for sun. That's 137 degrees F. I'd say that it's felt like that before. I had no idea the index was that high. No wonder why I hate the summer heat and find it unbearable—and thought my car was on fire.

The only problem with your heat index with 90% humidity and 90 degrees is almost every day once it gets above 80 degrees the humidity drops considerably.

Can you find me any day where the temp and humidity are close to 90 at the same time?

I think you will find almost all the time when the temp approaches 90 that the humidity will be closer to 50 or 60%.

A temp of 90 with 50% humidity has a feels like of 95 degrees, not a big jump from the actual temp.

[Spring Hillian]

Why would any one who cant handle heat/humidity in summer live in FL in the first place?

Originally Posted by algia

Good for you, but you have to agree that not everyone IS LIKE YOU!


Otherwise we would all be twins.... and I am pretty sure I'm an only child!