Best place in Texas to live (Houston, Austin: house, college, tornado)

[frogmommie]

I need some advice desperately. My husband and I currently live in Washington state and are thinking of moving to Texas. We are originally from Oklahoma, where we both grew up. However, the hot Oklahoma summers drove us here to Vancouver, Washington for milder temps. My husband is a welder and will need work. Any advice as to best area? Thanks so much.

[marylee54]

Its HOT just about everywhere in Texas, but if you do outdoor work I'd avoid Houston or anything on the gulf coast, not only is it HOT its humid as well. The humidity is usually around 90% or greater. The further west you go the drier it is, but its still blazing hot in the summer months. Perhaps try the panhandle region, around Amarillo, its drier up there, somewhat cooler, but probably like Oklahoma.

I'm in Austin, today I went shopping in shorts and a sleeveless shirt, it was in the 80's. Summers start early here, around March, end about November. Check out National and Local Weather Forecast, Radar, Map and Report for historic highs, hows, averages, etc.

[compSciGuy]

Summers in Oklahoma (or at least Oklahoma City) are much better than most of Texas. Winters are worse.

[centralaustinite]

I would worry about finding a job first! Employment, then location! Do you have families in OK who can help you network there? Oklahoma City and Tulsa are doing well.

[Eastender67]

[quote=compSciGuy;4993255]Summers in Oklahoma (or at least Oklahoma City) are much better than most of Texas. Winters are worse.[/quote

Better in what respect? Certainly Austin is not that much hotter in summer. The humidity is not much higher. (Maybe there's not as much of a breeze in Austin because there's not an F3 or 4 tornado coming through all the time?)

Moderator cut: links removed, competitor site

[Weatherguy]

Originally Posted by marylee54

Its HOT just about everywhere in Texas, but if you do outdoor work I'd avoid Houston or anything on the gulf coast, not only is it HOT its humid as well. The humidity is usually around 90% or greater. The further west you go the drier it is, but its still blazing hot in the summer months. Perhaps try the panhandle region, around Amarillo, its drier up there, somewhat cooler, but probably like Oklahoma.

I'm in Austin, today I went shopping in shorts and a sleeveless shirt, it was in the 80's. Summers start early here, around March, end about November. Check out National and Local Weather Forecast, Radar, Map and Report for historic highs, hows, averages, etc.

Actually, in Austin and Houston, summer starts in May and ends by mid October. That doesn't mean there aren't a few unpleasant days earlier or later, but on average, it isn't consistently uncomfortable until May through early October. In West TX and the Panhandle, summer doesn't really get going until June, and September brings cooler weather. There are lots of weather data resources online where you can find average temperatures for any city in the country (and world).

[LCRAguy]

I love Austin, i have lived a lot of places across the country and for me, it doesn't get better than Austin. One of the things that i really like is that it still has a small town feel to it. Its growing and its a large city, but i will see the same guy that changed my oil or my same waitress that i had later on in the day at the Alamo draft house or some place like that. I love running into people over and over again. I just love how relaxed it is and its a chill place to live.

[catman]

IF you can find work (or don't need to), my vote goes to the Alpine/Marfa/Fort Davis area. The humidity is largely absent, and the scenery is beautiful. I can hardly stand the humidity in Fort Worth; I certainly wouldn't want to be any closer to the Gulf of Mexico than I am. If you need a city environment, Lubbock or Amarillo (and possibly Midland-Odessa) might be appropriate.

[compSciGuy]

[quote=Eastender67;4995679]

Originally Posted by compSciGuy

Summers in Oklahoma (or at least Oklahoma City) are much better than most of Texas. Winters are worse.[/quote

Better in what respect? Certainly Austin is not that much hotter in summer. The humidity is not much higher. (Maybe there's not as much of a breeze in Austin because there's not an F3 or 4 tornado coming through all the time?)

Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site

Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site

Better in the respect that I've lived 17 years of my life in Austin, Texas and the last 2 over here. I am going off my personal observation, and know there are variances that I obviously don't see, ... but also know there are lots of people full of it and will lie about things like the weather, etc. just to justify their progressive oasis is better than someplace they deem inferior. Yes, there are nice and crappy days throughout the year and plenty of extreme temperature swings in both cities (in college I used to laugh about those days in Austin going from 80-something to 30-something, always seeing somebody who didn't pay attention to the weather report running around in shorts while freezing their butts off). Some web link that just lists stated average temperature for a month doesn't give that. I've been more affected by tornadoes in Austin than over here (was trapped in a flooding basement for hours at UT-Austin where the F5 was killing people in Jarrell and other more minor tornadoes were out and about in Austin), and while I understand your attempt at humor, from a scientific perspective the reasons why there are so many tornadoes are intertwined with the location being a meeting place between 2 climate zones (and highly relevant to the more mild weather). Austin is noticeably hotter from the springtime throughout the summer and beyond, plus it's typically much more humid than Oklahoma City. As a guesstimate, I would say typically a 82 in Austin feels like an 89 in Oklahoma City.

[Trickmystir700]

You bumped a 5 month old thread just to brag about Oklahoma city's abysmal weather. Why? The TC only has one post and she hasn't been back since march.