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Mostly comparing to Northeast Cities in like NY, NJ, PA and such. I heard that a 104 in Austin feels nicer than a 85 in NYC somewhere. Yet the dew points on Wikipedia seem to be very inaccurate. If Dallas was truly dry why are the dew point averages so high on their page? Shouldn't it be lower? I also heard Chicago is more humid than Austin. So how humid is Austin really?
Austin Texas has a subtropical humid climate. Summers are hot and temperatures frequently average 90°F but Austinites have learned to enjoy the hot weather through relaxing dips in the city’s many natural swimming pools and of course the AC. Depending on the winds cloud cover and other conditions nighttime summer temperatures can sometimes drop into the 50s.
In my experience ,that area of Texas can have both stifling heat with humidity. It's not all that pleasant in the Summer.
In my experience ,that area of Texas can have both stifling heat with humidity. It's not all that pleasant in the Summer.
I just think that an area that averages 69F dew points in the peak of summer gets called a dry heat, while areas that average a few degrees below is said to be EXTREMELY humid.
Then again I have another story to tell. During Jan 2018 I was a little north of Houston and it was like 35F outside and I was at a bar (not able to drink at the time, but was just eating) and the bartender said he is from Michigan, and said that it feels like it is way below freezing out. Yet, I said it was 35F, and he replied "oh I guess Houston has a humid cold, because it is absolutely FREEZING out, worst than most days in Michigan in the winter). So take that as you will.
One thing though, wouldn't Michigan have a humid cold? It isn't like the guy is from Montana, I mean Michigan with the Great Lakes and all should be on the wetter side of things.
I think it's a desert Texas stereotype-based myth that Austin and Dallas are dry. Never been to either but I was always told they are no different in humidity from the rest of the Southeast US, and the summer normals have very 'average' diurnal ranges that you would expect to see from Southeast US-style humidity.
Looks like I was beaten twice while typing this comment, and of course they agree that the silly myth is just that.
I think it's a desert Texas stereotype-based myth that Austin and Dallas are dry. Never been to either but I was always told they are no different in humidity from the rest of the Southeast US, and the summer normals have very 'average' diurnal ranges that you would expect to see from Southeast US-style humidity.
Looks like I was beaten twice while typing this comment, and of course they agree that the silly myth is just that.
Idk some guy on another site claimed that 104 in Austin felt better than 85 in NJ. Then again, that sort of evidence isn't exactly the best I suppose, given that 35F in Houston feels much worst than 14F in whatever place in Michigan that dude was from.
Uhh no. It may not be as humid as other parts of the country, but it isn't even remotely dry. 65-70 degree dew points are humid. Full stop. Anybody who says Austin and/or Dallas-Fort Worth are a dry heat has never lived anywhere with a truly dry climate.
Idk some guy on another site claimed that 104 in Austin felt better than 85 in NJ. Then again, that sort of evidence isn't exactly the best I suppose, given that 35F in Houston feels much worst than 14F in whatever place in Michigan that dude was from.
I don't buy the first either, there's a good chance it either wasn't actually 40C in Austin or 29C in New Jersey at the time and the claim was presupposed. People who make weather claims like that often have those assumptions: I know I used to when I didn't check the temperature prior to going outside.
As for the second, I have a good deal of humidity year round in an identical climate to Michigan and a humid 2C with no wind chill feels like 2C, rather cool but not cold, let alone unbearably cold.
I think the reason a lot of people say that cool or cold winter weather feels worse in the Southeast US is because they don't expect it, they're consciously or subconsciously expecting the balmy double digit highs in the 10s and 20s that the Southeast US is known for. So of course they will be caught off guard.
I think I might have an explanation for why some people say stuff like 104F in Austin feeling better than 85 in NJ. And 35F in Houston feeling colder than about 14F in Michigan. Just gonna guess it's a thing of tolerance. I have that experience myself.
Living in Houston when the first cloudy day with highs in the 50 to low 50s comes, it feels quite chilly. Chilly enough for my hands to sort of get slow and cold. Meanwhile living in Northern Minnesota after awhile, temperatures around freezing wouldn't even do that to my hands, even when dressed similarly. Furthermore, the opposite happened when I was in Southern Minnesota. There was a 95F day that came out of nowhere in either May or June, and it was the hottest 95F I've ever felt. It wasn't even very humid, the dews were like upper 60s or low 70s, but the heat itself felt scorching, like it was over 100. Meanwhile, in Houston I've felt similarly hot at temps over 100 and similarly dew points. That's the only why I can see people saying the stuff they said, even if the numbers say otherwise.
Think about it, I've never lived in Austin, but Houston will have weeks and weeks and weeks of highs of at least 90F and lows above 70F, non-stop. By August, your body is adapted to that level of heat, and those temperatures might not even feel as hot anymore. Meanwhile, other places up north, doesn't get that level of consistent heat, so those really hot days likely feel hotter to them, since they likely aren't used to it. Similarly to here in the winter. During December 2022, Houston had a low close to about 14F in my location, and I decided to go outside in that temp to check the mail and see how cold it feels again, and it felt much colder than 14F in Minnesota (aside from my very first time up there and it was that exact temp and it felt extremely cold at the time).
Last story, I went back to Minnesota late August of 2019 after spending a summer in Houston, and those high temps in the 70s felt quite cool. Pleasantly cool, but tbh high temps in the 70s never felt that cool to me in my life, and I suppose after scorching though a Houston summer, suddenly shifting from the mid 90s to mid 70s with much lower humidity, was a big difference yeah.
I lived in Naples, FL where the dew point was 74 degrees many months of the year, it was awful. I moved to Las Vegas where dew points are very low, it truly is "dry heat" and it feels great. There is no comparison. High dew points are not dry heat, period.
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