Atlanta- Not As HOT As You Think! (Dallas, Washington: living in, moving to)

[KevK]

I have read and posted on several threads on here where people seem to be wondering about how hot Atlanta is in the summer. The city seems to have got an undeserved reputation for hot weather. People even call it "Hotlanta" sometimes.
I noticed however that, on average, Atlanta is neither terribly hot or humid in the summer. Yes it is uncomfortable but far from unbearable. As somebody who has lived through summers in Dallas and Kansas City, I can tell you Atlanta is not bad at all.
Last year we had a very hot summer but if you look over several years, last year was quite unusual. Here are the highest temps for every year I have lived here (since 1996). You can see it is not that bad here:
Max Temp For Month

1996
June 97
July 99
Aug 93

1997
June 89
July 93
Aug 91
(the hottest day of 1997 was on Sept 20th 95 degrees)

1998
June 95
July 95
Aug 93

1999
June 93
July 99
Aug 98

2000
June 95
July 19th 100
Aug 96

2001
June 88
July 91
Aug 93

2002
June 93
July 95
Aug 97

2003
June 88
July 90
Aug 92

2004
June 92
July 95
Aug 92

2005
June 91
July 94
Aug 94

2006
June 97
July 96
Aug 98

2007
June 97
July 95
August 104 (aug 22), 103 (aug 9, 10), 102 (aug 15), 101 (aug 16, 17), 100 (aug 8, 11, 13)

[atlantagreg30127]

I'll bet money we match or exceed last years number of 100+ degree days in August this year.

[wxjay]

^I'll take that bet atlantagreg.

[doggiebus]

2007 Atlanta High Temps

9 days in the 100s
42 days in the 90s
107 days in the 80s
76 days in the 70s
60 days in the 60s
42 days in the 50s
27 days in the 40s
1 day in the 30s

That is NOT bad 158 days of 80s/90s/100s, In Miami we spent 313 days in the 80s and 90s, double that of Atlanta.
I think I would rather take 158 days in the 80s-100s than 313 days.

[ready2move]

Living in Ft. Lauderdale for 20+ years, and living in Atlanta for almost 2, I have to say that I love Georgia's summers thus far...Now winter, that's a different story.

[RainyRainyDay]

Discussions of the weather depend entirely on your point of reference. I have no reason to doubt that Atlanta is not that hot compared with Dallas, Kansas City and Miami, the cities cited so far on this thread, and according to another thread, Atlanta weather is cooler and less humid that Houston too.

On the other hand, as a former PNW resident (actually from across the Canadian border in BC), I've responded on a couple of other threads initiated by Seattle residents, asking whether Atlanta is "really" hot and humid, that yes, it's very hot and humid. If somebody's frame of reference is Seattle, then it's pretty much a sure bet that they are initially going to find Atlanta summer weather very hard to take. To a west coast person, Atlanta probably is every bit as HOT as they think. To a person from south Texas, Florida, Washington, DC, etc. etc., on the other hand, likely it's not particularly HOT here.

[doggiebus]

I agree it is all relative depending on where someone comes from. Atlanta surprising has an equal part of seasons, 3 months of summer, 3 months of fall, 3 months of spring and 3 months of winter. What is nice about that is just when you have had enough of one season, the next season starts. I live in Miami and its pretty much summer year round now. I would love a change in a seasons, or at least a real change in temps.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

I agree it is all relative depending on where someone comes from. Atlanta surprising has an equal part of seasons, 3 months of summer, 3 months of fall, 3 months of spring and 3 months of winter. What is nice about that is just when you have had enough of one season, the next season starts. I live in Miami and its pretty much summer year round now. I would love a change in a seasons, or at least a real change in temps.

Once again, it's all relative, because the notion that Atlanta has four equal-length seasons is certainly very surprising to me, after living here for six years. Using weather.com as my source for average highs and lows, I guess from your Miami perspective, it's not summer unless the average high is something like 85 or above? Atlanta's May (average high 80F) and September (average high 82F) seem pretty darned summer-like to me. In fact, from my west coast perspective, Atlanta's April and October (average highs of 73F) have summery weather. By comparison, Seattle's four hottest months, June through September, have average highs of 70, 75, 75, 70.

[gt6974a]

b/c of the drought, there wasn't much humidity last year. It was actually a very dry heat so it didn't feel as bad. Just wait until August, after the daily thunderstorms step outside and 'soak in' the heat/humidity.

[tdatl]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

On the other hand, as a former PNW resident (actually from across the Canadian border in BC), I've responded on a couple of other threads initiated by Seattle residents, asking whether Atlanta is "really" hot and humid, that yes, it's very hot and humid. If somebody's frame of reference is Seattle, then it's pretty much a sure bet that they are initially going to find Atlanta summer weather very hard to take. To a west coast person, Atlanta probably is every bit as HOT as they think. To a person from south Texas, Florida, Washington, DC, etc. etc., on the other hand, likely it's not particularly HOT here.

exactly! As a kid, I grew up in Boone, NC, which is generally cooler than the PNW due to elevation, and in visiting places around the country, I couldn't understand how people could spend any time outdoors in 80s+ and high humidity. It took me years to adjust to mid-80s. I still have never adjusted to 90s (now 40), and I just don't go outside in them. I will always prefer cooler weather.

Atlanta is hot & humid, but the elevation does help. It's a lot worse in surrounding areas.

I think Seattle has awesome temps, similar to Boone... I've flirted with moving to Vancouver, BC, which I think may have the best all-around weather in North America. It helps that I love the city.