Outdoors life in Dallas? (Austin, Plano: neighborhoods, schools, live in)

[FarNorthDallas]

I don't like to spray DEET on me. I remember before West Nile Virus I always heard "never use bug sprays with DEET bec it's poison, only use ones without DEET" (which didn't work vert well). Now all you hear is "make sure your bug spray has DEET in it." Once you spray DEET on you during the day you have DEET on you all of the rest of the day even if you are indoors. I think it's gross and unhealthy to have poison on my skin.

We are windor opener people. If it's halfway pleasant outside during the year, we open windows (you must have screens on your windows). Most people never ever open their windows. I take walks in the neighborhood and we are the only ones with open windows. I think allergies might be part of it. Dallas is a tough place for allergies, like moutain cedar.

We have ZERO mosquitos at our lakehouse however. Very strange. None.

[JasonDFW]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

The heat has not been bad this year so far. Usually it becomes unbearable around 9am and then it's still in the 90s at midnight. The only "cool" time is like 3am-9am. But this year is different - less heat, more humidity.

Right now we're running only 1/2 of one degree below normal for the summer based on average temperature, which is what things like global warming are based on. The problem is, people remember back to a bad summer and consider than typical, so most don't know what is typical. Also, we just came off of 2006 which was the warmest year ever* for Dallas, and the planet as a whole.

If we end up with just 1 100° day this year it will be below average, but we will have had 3 out of the last 6 years with only 1 100° day. We'll see, the summer is young, but if the humidity is going to need to start plummeting if we expect to hit 100 anytime soon.

Jason

*Whoops, shouldn't say ever, just since the beginning of modern records, ~1895.

[lh_newbie]

Originally Posted by JasonDFW

Right now we're running only 1/2 of one degree below normal for the summer based on average temperature...

Where did you get your data?

According to weather.com, our average daily high in July is 96 degrees. For the month of July (assuming their forecast for the rest of the month is accurate), the average daily high is only going to be 89.9 degrees - or 6.1 peak degrees below normal.

Measured average high for June was only 88.4. "Normal" average high for June is 92 - we were 3.6 peak degrees off of normal.

The average lows were less than a degree under normal for both months.

Daily highs are the temps we feel during the day - these are the things we remember. The interesting thing is that we haven't had a single day in July above 95, so we haven't even ONCE hit our daily average high. The abnormal rain and cloud cover have certainly kept the ground temps below normal, so this is compounding the effects. Plus, we did have an abnormally cold winter, further decreasing ground temps.

One thing for certain - we've been having some strange weather patterns.

Brian

[JasonDFW]

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Where did you get your data?

I used the the official source of the official source. The NWS, the official source of the station at DFW airport which is the official reporting station.

You've used a non-official source (weather.com), of a non-official source ( Love Field I bet?).

Weather.com itself isn't THAT bad of a source, but they have rounding (and other) issues which complicate things so I'd recommend only using them as a source of maps, as that is the only thing they provide that you can't get in a better, more accurate form elsewhere.

Another source of apparent (at first glance) error is you've described July, but I was using the meteorological summer instead.

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

According to weather.com, our average daily high in July is 96 degrees. For the month of July (assuming their forecast for the rest of the month is accurate), the average daily high is only going to be 89.9 degrees - or 6.1 peak degrees below normal.

The average high for July has been 91.8°, and the average temperature has been 83.8°, which is .9° below normal. This value is corrected by the NWS for the fact that July gets warmer as you progress through it. I don't have the corrected value for the highs but it is going to be somewhere just north of 95° for this time of the month. You could be right about where the forecast is going, we're so close I'm just going to wait.

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Measured average high for June was only 88.4. "Normal" average high for June is 92 - we were 3.6 peak degrees off of normal.

The average temperature for June was 70.7° which is .4° above normal. This partially cancelled the .9° below normal we are for July and is where I got my -1/2° for the summer figure. The average high was 90.0 which is 1.1° below normal but the average temperature is a better reflection of the entire day's temperatures rather than just the temperature at ~4pm. Using average temperatures also corrects for especially dry days when the highs and lows occur for brief moments, which better allows us to compare our climate to say Denver.

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

The average lows were less than a degree under normal for both months.

The average lows were 2° above normal for June and some amount above normal for July. Again, they don't publish the time corrected values for lows and highs, just the more important average temperature so I can't give an exact figure until the end of the month.

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Daily highs are the temps we feel during the day - these are the things we remember.

I guess it depends on your schedule. You will not feel them on the way to work, will not feel them at lunch (much cooler than the highs then) and many people get off work after the high has occured... although the temperature doesn't drop that fast in the evening (most years).

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

The interesting thing is that we haven't had a single day in July above 95, so we haven't even ONCE hit our daily average high.

We hit 95+ 11 times June and July. Only one of those times, July 17th, did we not hit our normal high (which at that time was 96). I probably should mention that the "normal high" for any dates within a month aren't actually the normal high, but a spline interpolated approximation meant to filter out high frequency data but it ends up giving you some plain wrong values at times, such as during the January thaw and late July/early August.

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Plus, we did have an abnormally cold winter, further decreasing ground temps.

Would you believe this winter was actually warmer than normal? Didn't see THAT coming did you? You're not alone in thinking it was below normal, as people associate lots of frozen precip with colder winters as well as some funny timing of some of the cold.

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

One thing for certain - we've been having some strange weather patterns.

Agreed.

Jason (another 75231'r)

P.S. All of my data can be found here:
National Weather Service Forecast Office - Fort Worth, Texas

[hamiltonpl]

Originally Posted by markdo

I currently live in France and am considering relocating to Dallas along with my young family. From speaking to various people who have visited Dallas I understand cars are the preferred means of getting about & walking is uncommon. Is this true or an unfair stereotype? Taking this further do people spend a lot of time outdoors in Dallas? For example are the following activities popular:
- family walks around the neighbourhood
- walking to the local shops to pick up a few essentials
- children playing at the local outdoor playgrounds
- parents walking their children to the local school
- having dinner at home outside
- children spending most of their time at home playing outside in the backyard
Thanks.

Yes, those are all popular activities. Lakewood, M-Streets, Highland Park and University Park all have those characteristics. I assume that the rest of the metro area is the same. However, the farther out from the center city you go, the more you will need to rely on a car.

[lh_newbie]

Originally Posted by JasonDFW

I used the the official source of the official source. The NWS, the official source of the station at DFW airport which is the official reporting station.

Looking at NWS now. Yes, it appears weather.com is using Dallas Love data for "Dallas, TX" - which is probably more relevant to me since it's much closer. I was happy to see my math wasn't off. HAHA! Last month, Love field had a mean temp of 80.3, or 1.9 degrees below norm. No doubt the clouds/rain are affecting our average temps.

Unfortunately, NWS doesn't store historical data for Love Field.

Brian

(where in 75231 you live? I'm near Walnut Hill/Abrams)

[JasonDFW]

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Looking at NWS now. Yes, it appears weather.com is using Dallas Love data for "Dallas, TX" - which is probably more relevant to me since it's much closer. I was happy to see my math wasn't off. HAHA! Last month, Love field had a mean temp of 80.3, or 1.9 degrees below norm. No doubt the clouds/rain are affecting our average temps.

Unfortunately, NWS doesn't store historical data for Love Field.

Brian
(where in 75231 you live? I'm near Walnut Hill/Abrams)

They give Love info but they make it a pain to find.... although they don't do the spline interpolation so you can get the daily averages like the local news stations give you each day. For reference, it goes from something like 94 to about 97 at the end of July... but the official monthly data is here:

Dallas Love Field Climatology (broken link)

Love is in the middle of a heat island, so it can be quite far from us at certain times but pretty close others (a whole post in itself). It's got the warmest peak summer lows of any non-coastal station in Texas because of the I35 heat island.

If anyone hasn't been outside yet today, check it out. 60° dewpoint and not a cloud in the sky, reminds me of the valleys of San Diego and could be the nicest day until September.

Jason (Church/Skillman)

[Willys]

Markdo, unless you take a commuter bus or rail downtown for work, the car is the method of transportation. You'll want one that comes with air conditioning. In the suburbs, parking as near the supermarket door as possible is the challenge of the day.

Having said that, Americans enjoy the outdoors as much as any other culture. But as you'll find, methods of application may vary. Heads up, the Dallas futbol team, FC Dallas, plays in Frisco, a quite nice suburb north of the metro. Bicycling is popular in Texas, but not as a usual method of transportation. But then, being from France, you'd know that.

[markdo]

I now realize I won't be cycling to work but at least I won't be viewed as a madman when I go for a cycle ride with my family on Sundays

[GoPadge]

Originally Posted by Willys

In the suburbs, parking as near the supermarket door as possible is the challenge of the day.

Now thats an outright lie. The challenge is not to park as close as possible to the door, the challenge is to park under a tree for shade.