Most oppressive summer : Downtown Chicago vs Downtown Los Angeles (hottest, warmest, average)

[Hartfordd]

Where the summer heat is the most oppressive between both of these downtown ? Downtown Chicago is sometimes exposed to the Lake Michigan breeze but it's also a more humid place while Dowtown LA is not really exposed to the Ocean breeze because of the distance but the heat is dry compared to Chicago heat.

[Baba_Wethu]

Both are horribly humid anyway, so since Los Angeles has 0.2'C warmer highs in its warmest month, coupled woth more sunshine, I'd say Los Angeles is the hottest.

[Unsworth]

Los Angeles is more miserable than Chicago in the summer, hands down. Los Angeles also has the pollution factor which makes it even more worse.

[brianpmcdonnell17]

On the whole, Los Angeles is cooler than Chicago in the Summer but Chicago has a cooler downtown. The opposite would be true if airports were compared.

[volosong]

Originally Posted by Baba_Wethu

Both are horribly humid anyway, so since Los Angeles has 0.2'C warmer highs in its warmest month, coupled woth more sunshine, I'd say Los Angeles is the hottest.

Can't agree with you about LA being "horribly humid". I spent the first 66 years of my life in LA, so know it well. The downtown can get hot on occasion, especially during the Santa Anna winds where the humidity is in the single digits. The basin is frequently shrouded in advection fog during the last Spring to mid Summer mornings, which would account for the higher humidity, but the morning temperatures are low enough that any humidity is not uncomfortable.

[Baba_Wethu]

Everything above 10'C DP, I find oppressive.

[forgotten username]

Originally Posted by Baba_Wethu

Everything above 10'C DP, I find oppressive.

You'd be oppressed here for half of the year at least... May to October included we have dewpoints above 10c, generally speaking.

Anyway how humid is LA ? Does not look like they have very high dewpoints.... I would bet Chicago feels hotter for at least a couple of months.

[Cambium]

I voted Chicago based on how high I seen the dews can get there but I decided to check.


Here's your answer..


Average Summer Dewpoint in Chicago is 61.1°F (16C). In Los Angeles its 59.5°(15C). Not a big difference but Chicago is more humid on average.


I used LAX because there's more history there. Downtown is pretty much the same since 2000.


Past few years its been more above normal in LAX than Chicago though and the trend seems to be scaling higher

[Baba_Wethu]

Los Angeles downtown is much less humid according to Weathersparks.

Vs


However, LA is almost always above 10'C DP in summer whereas Chicago is dry sometimes. Since my humidity tolerance saturates at 10'C DP (I am very sensitive to minor humidity), Chicago is less humid for me.

[volosong]

LAX is right on the coast, so the humidity is naturally higher than Downtown, which is about 10-15 miles inland, (as the crow flies).