Houston, Texas vs Phoenix, Arizona? (transplants, home, to live in)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If we're talking strictly climate here, I'd pick Phoenix over Houston.
Phoenix, while generally much hotter than Houston in terms of daytime high temperatures, is significantly less damp and humid. So when it's a pleasant 72 degrees in Phoenix, you can turn off your A/C and open up your windows. When it's 72 degrees in Houston, you still have to keep your windows shut and run your A/C to prevent the growth of mold and mildew.
The potential for hazardous weather such as thunderstorms, hailstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes and tropical storms is markedly lower in Phoenix due it's arid climate and landlocked location. The Houston metro area is not only situated in Tornado Alley, but also along one of the most hurricane-prone coastlines in the entire world.
Because Houston has a humid subtropical climate and is situated near a large body of saltwater (i.e., Gulf of Mexico), skies in the area are partly to mostly cloudy on most days on the year, regardless of season. There are probably 10-15 days/year when it's sunny with little to no cloud cover, and most of these days occur during passing cold fronts in the wintertime. I personally find that depressing, so I greatly appreciate the fact that Phoenix has many, many more clear, sunny days.
Also, Houston gets much colder than Phoenix in the wintertime because there are no tall mountain ranges to its north or west to prevent the invasion of Arctic air masses. This was apparent during the winter of 2013-2014 when the "Polar Vortex" greatly affected the Houston.
And because Houston gets much colder than Phoenix in the wintertime and is more damp and humid, the potential for ice storms in Houston is much greater. Ice is a fairly regular winter occurrence in Houston whereas it's more of a once-a-decade thing in Phoenix. For me personally, this is the icing on the cake - no pun intended, LOL.
If we're talking strictly climate here, I'd pick Phoenix over Houston.
Phoenix, while generally much hotter than Houston in terms of daytime high temperatures, is significantly less damp and humid. So when it's a pleasant 72 degrees in Phoenix, you can turn off your A/C and open up your windows. When it's 72 degrees in Houston, you still have to keep your windows shut and run your A/C to prevent the growth of mold and mildew.
The potential for hazardous weather such as thunderstorms, hailstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes and tropical storms is markedly lower in Phoenix due it's arid climate and landlocked location. The Houston metro area is not only situated in Tornado Alley, but also along one of the most hurricane-prone coastlines in the entire world.
Because Houston has a humid subtropical climate and is situated near a large body of saltwater (i.e., Gulf of Mexico), skies in the area are partly to mostly cloudy on most days on the year, regardless of season. There are probably 10-15 days/year when it's sunny with little to no cloud cover, and most of these days occur during passing cold fronts in the wintertime. I personally find that depressing, so I greatly appreciate the fact that Phoenix has many, many more clear, sunny days.
Also, Houston gets much colder than Phoenix in the wintertime because there are no tall mountain ranges to its north or west to prevent the invasion of Arctic air masses. This was apparent during the winter of 2013-2014 when the "Polar Vortex" greatly affected the Houston.
And because Houston gets much colder than Phoenix in the wintertime and is more damp and humid, the potential for ice storms in Houston is much greater. Ice is a fairly regular winter occurrence in Houston whereas it's more of a once-a-decade thing in Phoenix. For me personally, this is the icing on the cake - no pun intended, LOL.
No it isn't. The potential is higher but it's not regular. Probably about 3 or 4 per decade and it doesn't stick around either even for the entire day.
Lots of exaggeration in here.
Ice in Houston? Don't think I have experienced any build-up of ice in Houston during my 16 years of experience in that City. North Texas yes, Houston no.
Houston's winters are extremely mild. Yeah it will drop to the 30s for a few hours but a few hours later it will be back to the 60s.
Not going to justify summers, the summers there are just as bad as New Orleans or other gulf Coast cities, but I needed to respond to the ridiculous exaggerations about the winters.
Houston gets freezes for a few hours, maybe a light dusting of snow that is gone in a few hours, but that's about it.
Lots of exaggeration in here.
Ice in Houston? Don't think I have experienced any build-up of ice in Houston during my 16 years of experience in that City. North Texas yes, Houston no.
Houston's winters are extremely mild. Yeah it will drop to the 30s for a few hours but a few hours later it will be back to the 60s.
Not going to justify summers, the summers there are just as bad as New Orleans or other gulf Coast cities, but I needed to respond to the ridiculous exaggerations about the winters.
Houston gets freezes for a few hours, maybe a light dusting of snow that is gone in a few hours, but that's about it.
He said Houston was in the Tornado Alley. That's all the evidence you need to see that the poster doesn't have a clue.
As far as summer, while Houston has the oppressive Gulf Coast humidity, Phoenix is far worse, with searing, triple digit heat. Contrary to popular belief, the desert Phoenix is in does not cool down at night enough to ensure comfort (average summer lows there are above 80F; temps can still be triple digits well after sun-down). Also, monsoon season ensures that Phoenix is souped up with quite a bit of humidity, in conjunction to its hellish temps. Nasty dew-points and heat indices ensue; said monsoon thunderstorms don't even provide cooling, quenching downpours to the extend that summer thunderstorms in Houston/Gulf of Mexico do.
He said Houston was in the Tornado Alley. That's all the evidence you need to see that the poster doesn't have a clue.
As far as summer, while Houston has the oppressive Gulf Coast humidity, Phoenix is far worse, with searing, triple digit heat. Contrary to popular belief, the desert Phoenix is in does not cool down at night enough to ensure comfort (average summer lows there are above 80F; temps can still be triple digits well after sun-down). Also, monsoon season ensures that Phoenix is souped up with quite a bit of humidity, in conjunction to its hellish temps. Nasty dew-points and heat indices ensue; said monsoon thunderstorms don't even provide cooling, quenching downpours to the extend that summer thunderstorms in Houston/Gulf of Mexico do.
I don't think 99.999% of Houstonians know what a tornado looks like first hand. I think the poster visited North Texas and generalized the entire state based on that observation. Tornadoes and Ice is just not Houston. People do the same with the SW culture. There is hardly anything Southwestern about eat texas. For all intents and purposes Lufkin and El Paso might as well be in two different states.
Ice is definitely not regular in Houston at all. Dallas, yes. Houston, absolutely not.
As for tornadoes, they are not uncommon in the general area. Much less so than North Texas, but tornadoes in Southeast Texas are far more common than ice.
Ice is definitely not regular in Houston at all. Dallas, yes. Houston, absolutely not.
As for tornadoes, they are not uncommon in the general area. Much less so than North Texas, but tornadoes in Southeast Texas are far more common than ice.
Tornadoes aren't uncommon in Houston, but.... they aren't often seen in Houston either. That is, a lot of tornado reports in Houston come after the occurrence, if they even occurred at all.
For instance, in a severe storm over Houston early in the morning, a house experiences wind-damage. By afternoon, the damage is surveyed, and is declared as a "tornado"; while there are obvious traits to look for if the damage was caused by a tornado (evidence of rotation, for instance), a lot of times, just basic damaging thunderstorm winds can be enough to rival the damage caused by a tornado. Thus, I wouldn't be surprised if it is found that tornado reports in Houston are over-estimated by a bit.
But, it should be known that there is a difference between what happens in Houston, and what happens in areas of the Tornado/Dixie Alley; the area covered within those alleys tend to have high frequency/risk of not just tornadoes, but powerful tornadoes (mile wide, long tracked, etc). Areas like Houston, and parts of Florida can have tornadoes occur, but those that occur almost always fizzle out as soon as they touch ground, and their general areas don't have storied records of powerful, long track tornadoes, unlike, say, the northern areas of Alabama and Mississippi.
I'm a native houstonian who occasionally visits the Phoenix area to visit a family member. I love houstons summers but I am a rarity. I like the humidity. Skin looks and feels better with humidity. Sweat is the body's way of cooling itself. When I summer in Phoenix, I feel like a baked potato -- hot and no self cooling. I noticed that Arizonans have a grittier, harder look. I think that's a combo of spending lots of time in the sun with no humidity on the skin. I assure you we have more than 10-15 days of sunny and cloudless days. Some winters are great and mild and others are rainy and colder. The humidity gives the cold a sting to it when we have colder winters, I don't enjoy that. Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the country and for the most part race relations seem pretty good to me on the grand scale. Some residents choose to self segregate and live in primarily white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. areas while others live in melting pot neighborhoods are happy. That population diversity makes for some incredibly good dining options.
Crime is high in Houston from my perspective as a native but probably to be expected with the population density and people from all over living here. I find driving in Phoenix so much better than Houston. Easier to navigate and drivers much more courteous. Kudos to Phoenix on your drivers. Love a weekend jaunt to Payson or Sedona. Maybe only six hours to Las Vegas if you're into that. I enjoy Phoenix a great deal but think I would miss the greenery in Houston like grass lawns vs. rock lawns. There are some grass lawns in Phoenix but just not as many. Too much brown for me in the landscape and the building colors but it's the desert so it's probably as it should be. Houston has a lot of pollution but surprisingly that's also a big issue for Phoenix. You can google the air quality for both. Allergies? I don't get away from them in Phoenix. People planted enough stuff there to ensure pollen exposure. I'd suggest visiting both cities in the summer and deciding what lifestyle features are the most important to you when deciding where to live.
In answer to op questions - Houston is the larger city by a long shot. The construction and carpentry trades are dominated by Hispanics. Some legal and some illegal immigrants who will work for much lower wages. Not sure about those trades in Phoenix.
Last edited by texas7; 04-13-2016 at 07:01 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
