Texas Is The Ultimate Climate Rip-off (day, storms, cities, seasons)
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I agree, the Texan climate is disastrous for its latitude, unbearable in the summer but somehow still too cold in the winter. Just compare Dallas with Buenos Aires and Adelaide which are at roughly the same latitude. No offense but Buenos Aires and Adelaide are like a million times better than Dallas, and it's not even close. Or just compare it with San Diego which is it a similar latitude as well, San Diego is much milder and pleasant than Dallas, both in summer, winter, spring, and just pretty much 100% of the time
You describe 3 coastal cities which are very much moderated by ocean currents.
Dallas is very far inland and is considered "continental", and thus experiences more extremes in either direction.
Dallas has more in common with Omaha Nebraska in terms of climate & weather than it does with nearby Houston; although you'll have to adjust raw temperatures slightly the same seasonality is there.
Compare Seattle with Spokane and you'll see very similar effects as between Houston and Dallas, or even between San Francisco and Sacramento.
Most of North America, it seems has an extreme climate: cold, human and windy winters; stiflingly hot and humid summers; short and unstable transitional seasons. My own area – Southwest Ohio – often sees summer highs well into the 90s, and winter lows below 0 deg F. It is rare to find long stretches of what I call suit-jacket weather: temperatures where it is possible to walk around outside in a traditional business-suit, neither sweating nor shivering. While some places are more extreme than others, and cause more irritation than others, it is difficult to find any place in North America where summer highs rarely exceed 80 deg F, and winter lows rarely fall below 25 deg F. The one notable exception is a sliver of land along the US West Coast.
It's strange to me, that for all of the rampant criticism of American life (taxes, guns, crime, crass materialism, sprawl, societal decay, inequality, job loss, racial tension and discrimination, and on and on and on), it's so rare to hear that "America has bad weather". Get into a spirited argument with a fellow in a bar in England or Germany, and the barbs and jabs flying across the beer-glasses are about politics or economics or core societal beliefs. Nobody ever avers, "You Yanks are so full of yourselves, not even realizing just how awful is your climate!"
Personally I think that this border-wall-building debate currently dominating the news, is between the wrong countries. We need a hugely tall wall between the US and Canada, styled after Game of Thrones, to keep the Arctic winds from descending south. How high would this wall need to be?
While I agree that houston is much better for citrus than dallas, I think comparing dallas and north texas to the midwest is way, way off . Dallas is an 8a hardiness zone and capable of growing a ton of stuff you could never grow in say okc or arkansas and the midwest, this guy has tons of palms (mexican fan palms, California fan palms, Washingtonia fan etc), cycads, bamboos,yuccas bananas, some citrus etc
he moved from kansas city to north texas to grow more subtropical stuff
Winters are mild it seems but alot of people like a change of season, pretty brutal summer but tons of pools at least in plano.
I watch alot of show about pools because I am a banal person lol , texas and dallas has some of the best. florida has the best but texas triangle has much better economy
These are all backyard pools and gardens in or around dallas, first three pics are from poolmaster and hgtv cool pool show. Dallas is not a Midwestern climate by any means
Winters are mild it seems but alot of people like a change of season, pretty brutal summer but tons of pools at least in plano.
I watch alot of show about pools because I am a banal person lol , texas and dallas has some of the best. florida has the best but texas triangle has much better economy
These are all backyard pools and gardens in or around dallas, first three pics are from poolmaster and hgtv cool pool show. Dallas is not a Midwestern climate by any means
Me too. I like pool shows as well - giving me ideas for the future. A good tree house show doesn't go astray either.
Nice photos. Obviously not much wind in Texas, judging by the condition of the bananas.
The summers in Texas ARE unbearably hot with no rain and last four months. But, after that suffering, I like the winters. It gets cold, true; but then it'll warm up again. So I like the winters with the exception that it very rarely snows. I can get buy most days with a very lightweight, nylon lined, mid-thigh jacket or coat.
Corpus? I dated a guy who grew up there. He confirmed my experience that the wind in Corpus will "blow your head off." That's how he put it. Like visiting a town experiencing a hurricane. Have long hair? You'll be eating hair all day.
As far as pools in Dallas? The water becomes bathtub warm fast. So you can't cool off even if in the pool. I know people who have pools and they don't even go in them by July it's so darn uncomfortable outside or inside the water.
What the title says. If you are one who likes a moderate climate, and expects one for the location, then inland Texas is the ultimate climate nightmare. During summer, expect weeks of temps in the triple digits, and without a drop of rain, despite abundant low-level moisture from the Gulf; you can thank mid-level high pressure for this, which always seems to set up in inland Texas for some strange reason. Meanwhile, it turns around, and gets blasts of freezing cold air during winter, thanks to lack of moderation of cold airmasses coming down the plains. And in seasons where temps aren't extreme (spring and fall), there are loads upon loads of severe, tornado-spawning storms.
Places in other parts of the world at the latitude of Texas don't deal with all of these problems at once. The Sahara gets even drier, but no freakish cold, or tornadoes there, for instance. Many other parts obviously have a worse climate for me (Midwest, Northeast, etc), but I focus on Texas here because one would expect a far more equitable climate given its latitude (it should be having warmer, frostless winters), and location near the Gulf (summers in inland parts of the state should be far, far wetter).
With that said, there are two areas of the state I take exception to in this matter:
1.) Southeast Texas: Inlcudes the Houston Metro and the Golden Triangle (Beamont, Port Arthur, etc), and extends as far inland as Toledo Bend. This region of Texas, at least, has decent summer rainfall on average, and offers the only real chance of plentiful summer precipitation in the state. Keeps summer temps from reaching freakish levels. Along the Gulf Coast, winter temps are moderate enough to allow decent cultivation of subtropical plants (date palms, citrus, etc).
2.)Texas Gulf Coast: From Houston and Beaumont (great for aforementioned reasons), and extends down to Brownsville. The South Texas Gulf Coast (from Corpus Christi southwards) can get too dry for my liking, but at least temperatures stay relatively moderate, giving way to very glorious winters (the best in the US outside of Central/South Florida), great for cultivating great tropical plants (even coconut palms).
Unfortunately, these are small areas of such a large state; if at least half the state was like the two areas above, then there would be little complaints about the Texas climate. A poster by name of Tom77falcons says that North America is a climate fail; well, he should come to Texas is he wants to see what a true climate fail is (in terms of not living up to expectations).
If you think the Texas Gulf Coast has moderate temperatures, you don't kow what the word "moderate" means. Houston is hot as hades even in early summer. Now that it's August, we're hitting 99+ degrees. And let's not forget the humidity, the stuff which makes the tropical plants thrive and the people wilt. I was having a conversation with my wife the other day about how even though the kids are out of school for the summer, you wouldn't know it. Because it's so hot and uncomfortable, they stay inside all day and only venture out in the late evening, just like they do during the school year when they're stuck in the classroom. It's as quiet in the summer as during the school year
You describe 3 coastal cities which are very much moderated by ocean currents.
Dallas is very far inland and is considered "continental", and thus experiences more extremes in either direction.
Dallas has more in common with Omaha Nebraska in terms of climate & weather than it does with nearby Houston; although you'll have to adjust raw temperatures slightly the same seasonality is there.
Compare Seattle with Spokane and you'll see very similar effects as between Houston and Dallas, or even between San Francisco and Sacramento.
Most of North America, it seems has an extreme climate: cold, human and windy winters; stiflingly hot and humid summers; short and unstable transitional seasons. My own area – Southwest Ohio – often sees summer highs well into the 90s, and winter lows below 0 deg F. It is rare to find long stretches of what I call suit-jacket weather: temperatures where it is possible to walk around outside in a traditional business-suit, neither sweating nor shivering. While some places are more extreme than others, and cause more irritation than others, it is difficult to find any place in North America where summer highs rarely exceed 80 deg F, and winter lows rarely fall below 25 deg F. The one notable exception is a sliver of land along the US West Coast.
It's strange to me, that for all of the rampant criticism of American life (taxes, guns, crime, crass materialism, sprawl, societal decay, inequality, job loss, racial tension and discrimination, and on and on and on), it's so rare to hear that "America has bad weather". Get into a spirited argument with a fellow in a bar in England or Germany, and the barbs and jabs flying across the beer-glasses are about politics or economics or core societal beliefs. Nobody ever avers, "You Yanks are so full of yourselves, not even realizing just how awful is your climate!"
Personally I think that this border-wall-building debate currently dominating the news, is between the wrong countries. We need a hugely tall wall between the US and Canada, styled after Game of Thrones, to keep the Arctic winds from descending south. How high would this wall need to be?
While I agree that houston is much better for citrus than dallas, I think comparing dallas and north texas to the midwest is way, way off . Dallas is an 8a hardiness zone and capable of growing a ton of stuff you could never grow in say okc or arkansas and the midwest, this guy has tons of palms (mexican fan palms, California fan palms, Washingtonia fan etc), cycads, bamboos,yuccas bananas, some citrus etc
he moved from kansas city to north texas to grow more subtropical stuff
Winters are mild it seems but alot of people like a change of season, pretty brutal summer but tons of pools at least in plano.
I watch alot of show about pools because I am a banal person lol , texas and dallas has some of the best. florida has the best but texas triangle has much better economy
These are all backyard pools and gardens in or around dallas, first three pics are from poolmaster and hgtv cool pool show. Dallas is not a Midwestern climate by any means
southlake
Dallas isn't as bad as the Midwest, but it is a rip-off because I expected more from it, given its location.
This is an insanely stupid thread, expressing only an opinion. Virtually no benefit will be gained out of this thread. It's all subjective, to me north America is a climate succcess!!!! Texas is a large state also, with climates in the west more similar to Phoenix than Houston or dallas.
North america is a climate success for its wide variety of climates with nearly every climate on earth encompassed within. Only Asia can match that climate diversity. We get hot summers at very high latitudes, weather in some parts is always changing, stability exists in the west coast and other places such as Arizona, the east coast gets hurricanes, tornados, thunderstorms, plentiful rain and lotsssssss of sunshine. The Midwest gets lots of rain also, with interchangeable weather that can suffice any cold/warm lovers desires. The thunderstorms there are epic and don't rain too much so you can still work view a thunderstorms epic clouds even within it. We have nice mild climates in the southern Appalachian such as Boone, asheville, and other places around 2.5k-3.5k feet up. I personally feel all this bashing of North America is uncalled for! It's an absolute climate success.
Dallas isn't as bad as the Midwest, but it is a rip-off because I expected more from it, given its location.
The idea of a wall to stop tornados was proven bs. This guy is a physicist with no meteorological background and NOAA said it would not work at all.
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