So hot. (Chicago: area, places, average)

[Gemini1963]

Originally Posted by Drover

Maybe the western edge of Texas is a dry heat. The rest of it is part of the same stifling Gulf Coast drenched-air sweat-inducing summer Hell as the rest of the Dixie South, or at least the low-elevation portions of the Dixie South.

Having moved pretty recently from Austin, TX, I have to agree with this. I remember once, after getting acclimated to Austin, we visited Santa Fe, NM for a long weekend, and between the altitude and dry air, I was MISERABLE (though I'd had no trouble with SF when I lived there for a couple of years a long time ago). As soon as we got back to Texas, everything was better, and I remember saying, "Ah, my gills are happy again." I had not realized how used to the humidity I had become (or how humid it actually was there) until that trip away.

And as I wrote on the 4th of July / bbq thread, this is definitely unpleasant, but we have hope of it STOPPING in a few days (for a while, anyway) -- unlike the 2011 Austin summer, which featured 90 days of this stuff....

[linicx]

The first five years of my life I lived in the twin cities. The next 18 summers were spent in Minneapolis. I remember the May it snowed. I lived near Lake Harriet in an area of many old mature trees and small McMansions

Water = humidity. Large bodies of water produce a constant breeze on shore appropriate to the ebb and flow that is not nearly as noticeable on inland rivers, lakes and streams. Cornfields also produce humidity. Anyone who seriously believes Chicago is hot and humid in the summer has never spent an hour walking in the middle of a 1000 acre cornfield.

Illinois weather is very different in each region. Central Illinois near the Illinois River is more affected by the Gulf and hot dry Texas winds than by the Canadian air that cools Chicago.

Suthern Texas on I-10 is barren of trees, but there is a lot of sand and tumbleweeds all the way into El Paso and bygond. I spent my fair share of time on the Gulf Coast but not in Houston. The Gulf Coast in green and generally humid. Northern Texas may be more of an arid type desert, but it is still hot and dry when compared to Chicago summer. Even on 1-40 between OKC and LA there just isn't much relief from the type of summer heat we are experiencing now. Even Palm Springs would feel unseasonably hot.

[whakru]

Originally Posted by Drover

Uhh.... no. Average relative humidity between Chicago and MPLS is nearly identical.


Maybe the western edge of Texas is a dry heat. The rest of it is part of the same stifling Gulf Coast drenched-air sweat-inducing summer Hell as the rest of the Dixie South, or at least the low-elevation portions of the Dixie South.

Also agree with this....I don't know why people always say that Texas is dry. I just got back from there (San Antonio) and we drove through the whole eastern part of the state and let me tell you that there is nothing DRY about it! The temps were 98-102 the whole time we were there and it was SO HOT!!. We happened to come back to Chicago right when things started heating up here and I remember commenting that even though the temps were about the same it didn't feel as bad as Texas because the humidity was so much less.

This was our second visit there and the first time when we flew you could feel the humiditiy as soon as we landed. We were shocked because we were always told it was a "dry heat". So not true!

[marothisu]

Yeah of course Houston and areas on the East are humid, but not all of Texas is like that. There are many dry parts of Texas just as there are humid parts of Texas near Arkansas and Louisiana, and the Gulf of Mexico.

[Jzer21]

No offense, but I think this thread strips you of your right to laugh at Southerners when they freak out over their 4 inches of snowfall.

[Aleking]

Why talk about humidity when it's dewpoints that matter....70 with 80-90% humidity won't feel all that uncomfortable...95-100 with dewpoint temps in the 70s will...but the humidity will be under 40%. Obviously the closer you are to the gulf the higher your DPs average. Evapotranspiration from crops plays a smaller role.

[Alacran]

Originally Posted by Jzer21

No offense, but I think this thread strips you of your right to laugh at Southerners when they freak out over their 4 inches of snowfall.

Snow is matter.
Heat is energy.
Not comparable.

[MassVt]

The Mid-Atlantic, esp Baltimore and Wash DC , is notorious for drenching summer humidity. I do remember spending a weekend down there a few years ago, and I was soaked from heat to toe..

Give me winter, all day and every day, compared to this kind of weather...

[Aleking]

mean average daily dew points show a pretty clear picture of which places feel humid when it gets hot.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Aleking

Why talk about humidity when it's dewpoints that matter.....

There's an obvious relationship between humidity and dew points that was implied in the discussion when the old "dry heat" angle came up. When the comparison was between Minnesota and Chicago there didn't seem to be much point in bring in dew points since humidity, dew points and summer temperatures between Chicago and Minneapolis, which is the climate the vast majority of Minnesotans experience, are so similar as to make no practical difference. A "normal" July day in one feels much like a "normal" July day in the other.

When Kuala Lumpur was then brought into the discussion for the sake of comparison, I thought about launching into a treatise about the relationship between temperature, relative humidity, dew points, and human comfort. In the end I decided it wasn't worth the while when the other party seemed to have much greater personal investment in being "right" about the subject. Weather/climate seems to be a subject Mr. marothisu is quite passionate about.