Texan Weather (Houston, Dallas, Amarillo: ski resorts, living in, vs)

[Shaman]

At the time I am contemplating the idea of moving to Texas from Heber, Utah which is located 15 minutes south of the Park City ski resorts. My question is about the Texas summers, is there such a thing as a mild Texas summer and if so where can it be found? Thank you.

[txsizzler]

About the only "mild" temperatures you will find (.. and I do use "mild" very loosely) would be the mountains of far west Texas, in areas like Alpine for example. But, even those areas are prone to the heat. But, mild for you may be alot different than my version of mild... I have been in Texas for nearly 15 years, and have seen temps as high as 111 in a non-airconditioned cement mixer truck, thus mild for me may be too hot for you. Remember, temperature is all relative to how you perceive it.

Texas is a vast state... some areas are very dry, other areas are quite humid. Dry heat is different than the humid, sticky heat. Also, some areas have alot of wind, while other areas are nearly still during the heat of the afternoons. So, it just kind of depends on what you are looking for.


Ian

[momof2dfw]

Texas weather is bipolar. It can think it is winter in the dead of summer and then the next day feel like h e l l. Then in the winter it can be hotter than hades and the next day snow. Of course 10 miles down the road the weather can be totally different. Like the other day when the panhandle of Texas was in a blizzard and covered in snow and down in McAllen it was in the 90's.

As said by txsizzler, Texas is a HUGE state with a HUGE varying difference in topography from one end of the state to the other.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by Shaman

At the time I am contemplating the idea of moving to Texas from Heber, Utah which is located 15 minutes south of the Park City ski resorts. My question is about the Texas summers, is there such a thing as a mild Texas summer and if so where can it be found? Thank you.

Not in any of the big cities. Only in West Texas/Panhandle as others have described.

People come to Texas for mild winters. If you want mild summers, you should move somewhere else.

[happ]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Texas weather is bipolar. It can think it is winter in the dead of summer and then the next day feel like h e l l. Then in the winter it can be hotter than hades and the next day snow. Of course 10 miles down the road the weather can be totally different. Like the other day when the panhandle of Texas was in a blizzard and covered in snow and down in McAllen it was in the 90's.

As said by txsizzler, Texas is a HUGE state with a HUGE varying difference in topography from one end of the state to the other.

Brownsfield was 101F the same day Amarillo was 11F & snowing a few days ago!

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by happ

Brownsville was 101F the same day Amarillo was 11F & snowing a few days ago!

Not completely surprising, when you consider that from Amarillo, there are probably 6-7 other STATES that are closer than Brownsville/Harlingen/McAllen. And from Brownsville/Harlingen/McAllen, there are probably 30 or more cities in MEXICO that are closer than Amarillo (including Monterrey, which is only 130 miles away).

[88txaggie]

As others have said, come for the mild winters and put up with the summers. There are differences to a native Texan - for instance the summers in Dallas can be 'better' than the summers in Houston due to humidity differences. One of the big differences in Texas vs other states, imo, is that once it gets hot you don't get a break - after June it won't cool off till October. There is no cooling off at night, really, and no 'heat wave' followed by 'mild temps'....it gets to 100 and stays there - maybe 'cooling off' to a high of 96 for a few days. Compared to, say, Illinois, where you might have highs in the mid 90s for a week but then get a break from the heat with a few days in the 80s.

[txsizzler]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Of course 10 miles down the road the weather can be totally different. Like the other day when the panhandle of Texas was in a blizzard and covered in snow and down in McAllen it was in the 90's.

Although I agree with you, it was a bit of an odd analogy you used for your example. The distance between a panhandle city (Amarillo), and Mcallen is 800 miles. Not exactly "10 miles down the road". 800 miles in most other areas would have you traveling across 2 to 3 states!

Mileage link: http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTEx...callen%2C%20tx

On that particular day, there was quite a wide variation in temps and precipitation. For example, in Oklahoma, while Altus had temps in the low 30's with snow, areas of SE Oklahoma, around Idabel, had temps around 70 with thunderstorms.


Ian

[Kibby]

Originally Posted by 88txaggie

As others have said, come for the mild winters and put up with the summers. There are differences to a native Texan - for instance the summers in Dallas can be 'better' than the summers in Houston due to humidity differences. One of the big differences in Texas vs other states, imo, is that once it gets hot you don't get a break - after June it won't cool off till October. There is no cooling off at night, really, and no 'heat wave' followed by 'mild temps'....it gets to 100 and stays there - maybe 'cooling off' to a high of 96 for a few days. Compared to, say, Illinois, where you might have highs in the mid 90s for a week but then get a break from the heat with a few days in the 80s.

Exactly right. I've lived on the coast (humid but good breeze), in the center and now in the DFW metro mess. I can tell you from living in the DFW area for almost 40 years that our weather patterns are changing. Winters are not as cold and summers are not as hot as they were 25-30 years ago.

It really doesn't start getting terribly hot until sometime in June and then we have until about October when it starts cooling down some. That's 3-4 months of real sustained heat - the thing that makes it worst (as mentioned above) is that it does not cool down at night.

Contrast that with the long months of winter in other states (like Utah) and decide what you can put up with it. We always take a vacation to somewhere "cool" in August for a break. The rest of the year is very pleasant. It's a matter of "choose your poison". Nothing and nowhere is perfect.

[Shaman]

Thank you for all of the responses, they have been very helpful in evaluating my decision to move. Because the heat might be a deal-breaker for me this insights have been useful. We keeps drawing me back to the idea of Texas is all of the good things I have heard about the state of Texas in general. Thank you.