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I am originally from Nebraska, where summer dewpoints generally stay around 65-75 and the days do feel very humid. I remember a few days each summer where the dewpoint would reach as high as 82. I remember one night going to the airport in Omaha to pick up my sister when we had a dewpoint of 81 or 82- and with the AC cranking away inside to keep the building cool and the insane humidity outside, there was thick dew formed all over the outside of the windows, to the point of making it hard to see outside of the terminal to watch the plane taxi in. That was the worst humidity I had ever experienced.
Seattle has never been anything like that since I have been here (5 years)- dewpoints here in the summer seem to remain in the mid 50's, with the unusually humid days getting close to 60.
Have you been on the East Coast in the summer? I've lived in Phoenix for over 30 years and have never sweated as bad as when I was in Massachusetts during summer.
It is true. There is a bg difference between summer in Phoenix and Mass. In addition to the humidity, there is the fact that summer weather lasts 10 months in Phoenix and 2 months in Mass.
The only place that might be drier than Sacramento in Texas would be El Paso....regarding relative humidity and dew points. And I'm just taking your word for it on that one.
Often, Sacramento heat index temps are 3-5 degrees COOLER than Actual temps on average, the opposite for Austin or San Antonio.
A good rule of thumb.
For example,
When it's 95 in Sacramento it feels like 90 (heat index)
When it's 95 in Austin if feels like 100 (heat index)
Currently,
Dew Points:
San Jose 55 degrees
Sacramento 56 degrees
El Paso 59 degrees
Austin 73 degrees
Temps:
San Jose 61 degrees
Sacramento 62 degrees
El Paso 75 degrees
Austin 77 degrees
Interestingly, I find Austin and Dallas 95 more comfortable than Houston and Washington DC 95. But 95 in Sacramento with low dewpoint and low relative humidity is fine. My limit though because it doesn't matter if it's 105 and dry.
I don't think the average is useful in places where the temps and humidity swings so much during a 24 hour period.
Looking at yesterday's weather average for where I live, we have:
avg temp: 85°
average humidity: 48%
you'd think "huh, moderate and a little humid"
Except that the low was 65° (63% RH) and the high was 102° (12% RH). So, during the part of the day it matters, it was very hot and dry, something the average doesn't even remotely reflect.
Look at, say Atlanta - avg temp 74°, avg RH 65%. The high/low temp was 84/64 and the RH was 85/45.
So the average there, where the swing isn't as great, tells you a lot more.
I don't think the average is useful in places where the temps and humidity swings so much during a 24 hour period.
Looking at yesterday's weather average for where I live, we have:
avg temp: 85°
average humidity: 48%
The average is somewhat useful, the problem is you're using relative humidity for some reason rather than absolute humidity (dew point), which is what most have used on this thread.
The only place that might be drier than Sacramento in Texas would be El Paso....regarding relative humidity and dew points. And I'm just taking your word for it on that one.
You don't need to just take my word for it. It's pretty well established as fact. You seem to know quite a bit about meteorology, and how these things work... so just do a little more research and I'm sure you'll find that the climate and relative humidity of West Texas is significantly drier than places like Austin and San Antonio, which lie well within the humid zone of TX that is influenced by the Gulf of Mexico. And yes, El Paso is indeed a bit drier than Sacramento. It's in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert, at a high elevation, and receives only 7 inches of precipitation annually.
Here's one example of many precipitation maps for the state of Texas I found doing a simple google search. You can clearly see the big dry-out that occurs moving East to West.
Interestingly, I find Austin and Dallas 95 more comfortable than Houston and Washington DC 95. But 95 in Sacramento with low dewpoint and low relative humidity is fine. My limit though because it doesn't matter if it's 105 and dry.
I dunno. Houston is definitely more humid than Austin and Dallas, but as far as comfort levels go? I'd say the differences are pretty insignificant. However less humid Dallas and Austin are from Houston, the discomfort is made up for, at least in Dallas, by higher temps. Heat indexes are roughly the same. I've lived in all three cities, and I felt equally miserable in all of them during summer. Dallas is definitely drier, but it's far from being "desert-dry", or even coastal or central California-dry. It's still humid enough there to make you sweat like a pig, even when temps are in the 80's.
I honestly can't think of any place West of the Great Plains that has a heat index like what lies to the East... aside from the obvious brutality of the desert SW, where triple digit heat is uncomfortable no matter how low the humidity is. Even the coastal rain forests of the Olympic peninsula in Washington, the wettest place in the continental U.S., have a much more comfortable heat index in the hottest months of summer than pretty much anywhere East of the Great Plains.
It is true. There is a bg difference between summer in Phoenix and Mass. In addition to the humidity, there is the fact that summer weather lasts 10 months in Phoenix and 2 months in Mass.
I'm sorry, but you're horribly misinformed--summer in Phoenix is, on average, a little less than 5 months long (May 15 - October 5). OTOH, summer in most of Massachusetts is barely 2 months in length (June 25 - August 20).
I'm sorry, but you're horribly misinformed--summer in Phoenix is, on average, a little less than 5 months long (May 15 - October 5). OTOH, summer in most of Massachusetts is barely 2 months in length (June 25 - August 20).
My point isn't that the West Coast is just as humid as back east, it's not of course but just that I find this idea that 85F with 50% relative humidity could honestly be described as "dry heat" to be bulsheet. No, it's still muggy, just not the insane tropical mugginess you get in the South, Midwest and Northeast sometimes.
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