How hot does it really get?

[LI2Texas]

Last year was my first summer in TX (from NY) and I was never so hot that I couldn't find a body of water I couldn't cool off in. And I transferred offices within the same company, and find the dress code here to be generally more relaxed (accounting industry).

[jobert]

Originally Posted by Campeador

It's so hot that....

...when I opened the paper and read the weather report, I got heat stroke.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by Vector28

......and some will wear just a thong and high heels.

Reminds me that, back in Atlanta, our rather conservative(read: older residents) condo complex 'outlawed' thongs in the pool area. Some of the folks couldn't understand why they weren't allowed to wear flip-flops!

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by eileenkeeney

We do all sorts of I.T. including software development.
In Oregon we wore shorts and flip flops, and that fit in.
I was told that when I moved to Austin, the dress code was more "Business Casual".
However, I have seen a few people wearing shorts, and a few wearing well worn jeans and very comfortable looking shirts.
Some wear the nice dress shirt and tie, many wear decent looking slacks and a decent looking shirt.

Personally, I opted for a skirt and light weight polo shirt as it gets too hot for long pants.

For some people, they spend no more time outside then it takes to get from their air conditioned vehicle to the entrance (or door of their home).

I walk to work.

So far, the walk home is tolerable; and the walk to work is still enjoyable.
I think it is the wind chill that makes the walk home still tolerable.

When it gets hotter, I might opt for packing my hat with ice, before I start the walk home. I am still trying to figure something out.

The vast majority of tech companies in Austin are casual to very casual in dress. Some of it is just sloppy. Go to Frys during lunch on a weekday and you'll see what Austin nerds look like. I do not see business casual as "normal" for IT oriented companies except by middle management and above.

[Jennibc]

I think it depends on the company. My husband works for a technically oriented company in NW Austin and they are not allowed to wear jeans except on Fridays. However, they are owned by a huge company that is not based in Austin or the West Coast. Additionally, they have a customer training site at the facility which might also affect the more stringent dress code of business casual (no jeans).

[tibbar]

Austin can get really hot in the summer and I used to think I had it bad till I went to Phoenix in the summer. The heat in Phoenix melted the plastic parts in the car's windows. I haven't had that happen in Austin (YET!).

[PatanjaliTwist]

For the two who mentioned Atlanta in this thread, or anyone else who has some on-hands insight, I was wondering if you'd be so kind as to compare the heat/humidity in Atlanta to Austin. I lived in Atlanta years ago and now have an opportunity to work in Austin very soon. I could tolerate Atlanta-ish humidity again... Las Vegas heat (where I stayed for a few months), no thanks.

Coming from London, then New England, I initially found Atlanta brutally hot. It took a good few months (3 if I remember correctly, 1 for the heat headache to disappear) to not feel completely oppressed by the humidity. Wanting to be there, however, made a huge difference of just quieting the mind from thinking how bloody hot it was each hour of the day.

Funnily enough, when I moved to Seattle one February after 4 years in Atlanta, I found it cold... even though it's nothing like a VT winter at all. After time, I'd adjusted to the heat and owned nothing heavier than linen, or darker than white.

So, does Atlanta's weather feel similarly hot and humid as Austin? Thanks very much.