Contemplating moving to DFW area...three questions... (Houston, Dallas: apartment, hotel)

[metroxian]

Originally Posted by EDS_

To be precise in 2011 DFW recorded 71 days of 100 highs all year not 70 days in a row. The average number of 100 degree days is 18. I think we had 6 this year and at least a couple years we've had 0 100 degree days and 1 or 2 a good number of years.

It's not so much the hundred degree heat during the days that drags you down. It's the overnight low hovering in the mid-80's night after night.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Temp43k

It's not so much the hundred degree heat during the days that drags you down. It's the overnight low hovering in the mid-80's night after night.

I just looked this up. Since 1899 the warmest official overnight lows in Dallas have been 86F twice and 83F three times.

The average overnight lows in Dallas for July and August = 77F.


I would have thought Dallas would have had hundreds of lows around 85 since 1899 but two different sources listed the above including The National Weather Service.



ETA-
I just found a blurb about very high overnight temps here. Basically for the over night low to be 85 or 86F here the day time high needs to be right at 109 or higher two days in a row or something like 107, 107, 108 over a three day span. Since 1899 we've had less than 20 days with highs at 109 or higher and only a few runs like 107, 107 and 108. If I read the chart correctly Dallas has had fewer than 100 days of 106 or higher since 1899.

[TrueDat]

Originally Posted by EDS_

To be precise in 2011 DFW recorded 71 days of 100 highs all year not 70 days in a row. The average number of 100 degree days is 18. I think we had 6 this year and at least a couple years we've had 0 100 degree days and 1 or 2 a good number of years.

My bad. That year it was 40 days in a row, and 70 overall. Still, for a coastal Californian, that's pretty brutal. I remember it seeming like it was 70 in a row. I thought it would never end.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weath...nds/49935682/1

Marv, as for comparisons to Houston, San Antonio and Austin, Dallas is drier than they are. The closer you get to the Gulf, the more humid it's going to be. The upside for them is that they tend to have fewer icy days in winter.

You say you live in the Miracle Mile area which is near where I grew up in Pico-Robertson and La Brea areas. If you want to replicate that feel then definitely live more in the central areas like near Mockingbird Station (The Village), Knox-Henderson, North Oak Cliff, Oak Lawn, the area near the Inwood, etc. I would say Uptown as well though it's expensive (but then so is the Miracle Mile these days). The only thing you'll be missing is a good range of Jewish bakeries from which to get your baked goods. Canter's and Beverlywood represent!

The one exception to this advice though might be Richardson. It's an older suburb just to the north of Dallas with a diverse population, good Asian and Indian food, a cool theater that plays mainstream and not-so-mainstream stuff (Alamo Drafthouse), the housing's not as pricey as some of the in-town Dallas neighborhoods, and it's along Central Expressway/75 and the DART light rail so you can be at NorthPark (the equivalent mall to Century City or the The Grove but without the outdoor feel), Mockingbird Station, Uptown, and downtown in a short amount of time.

[NP78]

Originally Posted by EDS_

I just looked this up. Since 1899 the warmest official overnight lows in Dallas have been 86F twice and 83F three times.

The average overnight lows in Dallas for July and August = 77F.


I would have thought Dallas would have had hundreds of lows around 85 since 1899 but two different sources listed the above including The National Weather Service.



ETA-
I just found a blurb about very high overnight temps here. Basically for the over night low to be 85 or 86F here the day time high needs to be right at 109 or higher two days in a row or something like 107, 107, 108 over a three day span. Since 1899 we've had less than 20 days with highs at 109 or higher and only a few runs like 107, 107 and 108. If I read the chart correctly Dallas has had fewer than 100 days of 106 or higher since 1899.

I can't speak for Temp43k, but what bothers a lot of people isn't the overnight low (which typically occurs around 5 AM or so), but the fact that it is still extremely warm in the late evening (even as late as 10 or 11 PM).

Just taking a look at a relatively average July day from this past summer (High 96/ Low 75), it looks like temps at 10PM were still right at 89/90 and still in the mid-80's at 11 (Weather History for Dallas Love, TX | Weather Underground

If someone is coming from a drier (rapid cooling) or more moderate climate, the late evening heat can be difficult to get used to. Just looking at an average July day in Denver (Weather History for Denver Centennial, CO | Weather Underground) for example. While the difference in Max Temp for the day between Denver and Dallas is only 10 degrees, the difference in the late evening hours is in the 15-20 degree range (along with significant differences in Dew Point).


I don't think it is something to complain about per se (it's Texas after all, none of this should be a surprise), but I think one of the largest adjustments coming from a cooler climate is not just the afternoon heat, but the fact that you don't really feel naturally cool air at any time of the day for months.

[BstYet2Be]

Originally Posted by Marv101

I live about 4 miles west of DTLA near the 'Miracle Mile', and really humid days are very rare here, even when the temperatures go over 90 or 100, definitely unlike Texas or Florida in the summer

Related question--is the humidity in DFW any worse or better than it is in either Houston or the Austin/San Antonio area?

Thunderstorms are a rarity here as well, and when they do arrive, they don't last very long at all.

Marv101, it's always interesting to read the different perspectives here on whether Dallas is humid or not, and you'll find that most all of the opinions fall into two categories - (1) those from the East typically find it much less humid, and (2) those from the West typically find it much more humid. But it's not Florida-humid by any means, and Houston is significantly more humid than Dallas, especially in the afternoons.

Here is a nifty tool using NOAA comparative climatic data that you can use to perform your own city weather comparisons:

Dallas vs. Houston City Climate Comparisons

Graph comparisons for:
-- Average High Temps
-- Average Low Temps
-- Average Precipitation
-- Average Days of Precipitation>0.1 inch
-- Average Morning Humidity
-- Average Afternoon Humidity, and
-- Mean Temps
-- and more

To choose any other city comparisons, just click on the "Click here to start over" option on that page.
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[rtloucks]

I always think people who mention humidity in Dallas are so funny. Dallas is not humid in the sense of sticky. It is humid in the fall and spring with the moisture in the air, but the winters are dry and the summers are just hot. The sun and heat cook the humidity out of the air. I have lived in Dallas Twice and am currently on the east coast for the last few years (until next month when we will be returning back to Dallas again thankfully) and the humidity out here lasts all year long. and it never gets hot enough to cook it out of the air, so HUMIDITY here is humid. HUMIDIDTY in Texas is a pleasure when you get it.

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Yea but Koppen takes continuous average relative humidity readings over the course of each year. It's way better to look at summer J-A morning and afternoon readings - most everyday Dallas is humid in the AM and much drier by noon and into the early evening, as are most cities in The US. Using this metric Dallas (82% AM and 44%PM) is drier than Madison, Nashville, Columbus, Syracuse, Lincoln, Lansing and about 100 other cities. Dallas has better dew point metrics than many other cities as well.

Dallas also has one thing the cities you listed doesn't - 90+ degree average highs for nearly the entire summer, and that combined with 45-55% afternoon humidity puts the heat index near or above 100 degrees from mid June into September. Dallas's heat is miserable and unrelenting. Even before the sun comes up the heat and humidity will pop you in the mouth. There's absolutely nothing pleasant about summer in Dallas. If winter in Dallas were 72 degrees and sunny it might be a tradeoff, but it's typically in the 50s and cloudy.

[BstYet2Be]

Originally Posted by bluescreen73

Dallas also has one thing the cities you listed doesn't - 90+ degree average highs for nearly the entire summer, and that combined with 45-55% afternoon humidity puts the heat index near or above 100 degrees from mid June into September. Dallas's heat is miserable and unrelenting. Even before the sun comes up the heat and humidity will pop you in the mouth. There's absolutely nothing pleasant about summer in Dallas. If winter in Dallas were 72 degrees and sunny it might be a tradeoff, but it's typically in the 50s and cloudy.

C'mon, enough already! If it were really like you state - which is simply your opinion - none of us would survive one summer here much less the 30+ that we have... while actually enjoying the weather, both in the winters and in the summers! Too hot for you, go indoors and spend time with the A/C! However, we've spent many, many years of spring/summer months through mid-August out at the ball fields and not only survived them but had a whole lot of fun doing so... my DD still does, every summer with her teams!

It's not for everyone, and obviously was not for you, but that's no reason to continue to berate anything/everything about this area simply because it was not to your liking. Facts speak volumes, folks, look 'em up!
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[ashiyer7]

We have lived in Dallas for 10+ years now and just love the hot/warm weather for most of the year

[Marv101]

Somebody needs to slap me--DFW is some 300 miles from Galveston and the Gulf Of Mexico, so of course Big D tends to have lower humidity.

I'd always been under the impression that the entire state is smothered with 60% or higher humidity a la Georgia or Florida on top of 90-105 degree days ad nauseam for 4-5 months of the year, so I definitely stand corrected---thanks to everyone.

A couple of questions regarding Addison & the surrounding area bounded by 635 on the south, Preston Rd. on the east, the George Bush Turnpike on the north (no highway number appears on the Google Maps snapshot of the area) and Midway Rd. on the west are as follows.

Does the existence of that cluster of hotels along Belt Line Rd. in Addison or North Dallas (not sure where the boundary is) detract from the attractiveness of Addison as a community in which to live, or is that stretch of roadway essentially an 'out of sight out of mind' issue for the folks who live nearby?

Also, the listing for the Marriott Courtyard Addison on Quorum Drive ($69 on weekends is terrific) mentions a 'Restaurant Row' nearby, so any details on that would also be appreciated.