Dallas was much cooler than Houston this past Winter? (Conroe: 2015, school)

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by kreeyax

Dallas routinely gets ice storms in the winter. It will also snow there pretty much every winter. Before I moved to Houston (beginning of 2010) I lived close to Denton and we got 12 inches of snow at our house. Snow in Houston is uncommon and typically small amounts, and I don't recall any substantial ice storms since I've lived here. So the winters are much more mild here in Houston. Winter storm Uri being the exception, of course. We had water pipes crack in our house here during that storm. That never would have happened in our north Texas home because they are generally built to withstand the cold weather up there.

Yet more homes in North Texas had those cracked piped issues than Houston. North Texas homes are not built like they do homes in the north. Besides that was a freak winter storm that any region would have suffered damages from. If you moved to Houston beginning of 2010 then you might have just missed the snow sprinkling and ice Houston got (Dfw got many inches of snow the same time).

The differences between Houston and DFW weather is more pronounced in the winter time, where a few degrees lower means it'll be raining ice for week whereas Houston will have cold rain instead. The summer, eh not that much

[kreeyax]

Originally Posted by DabOnEm

Yet more homes in North Texas had those cracked piped issues than Houston. North Texas homes are not built like they do homes in the north. Besides that was a freak winter storm that any region would have suffered damages from. If you moved to Houston beginning of 2010 then you might have just missed the snow sprinkling and ice Houston got (Dfw got many inches of snow the same time).

The differences between Houston and DFW weather is more pronounced in the winter time, where a few degrees lower means it'll be raining ice for week whereas Houston will have cold rain instead. The summer, eh not that much

Are you sure more homes in North Texas had cracked pipes than the Houston area? I didn't hear about that from my friends up there, I don't think any of them had that issue. On my street here in Cypress it seemed like one out of every 3 or 4 homes had a pipe crack but they were mostly over the garages or outside. Unfortunately ours burst in the attic so we had quite a bit of damage. I know our home near Denton had metal pipes with no outside exposure. Here in Houston we have CPVC pipes with an exposed main outside, and our sprinkler backflow valves are above ground as well.

[Houston Area Man]

When is Houston cooler than Dallas?

[kreeyax]

Originally Posted by Houston Area Man

When is Houston cooler than Dallas?

In the summer. It's rare in Houston to go above 100F, but in Dallas it happens frequently. We do have the humidity here though, so you sweat just as much if not more.

[R1070]

Originally Posted by kreeyax

Dallas routinely gets ice storms in the winter. It will also snow there pretty much every winter. Before I moved to Houston (beginning of 2010) I lived close to Denton and we got 12 inches of snow at our house. Snow in Houston is uncommon and typically small amounts, and I don't recall any substantial ice storms since I've lived here. So the winters are much more mild here in Houston. Winter storm Uri being the exception, of course. We had water pipes crack in our house here during that storm. That never would have happened in our north Texas home because they are generally built to withstand the cold weather up there.

I wouldn't say ice and snow are an every year thing in Dallas, but it's more likely to happen in this part of the state. Before the big freeze a few years ago, Dallas hadn't had any measurable winter precipitation in 6 years. This year we had an event with sleet, but other than that and the cold snap that affected all of Texas in late December, it was a pretty mild Winter.

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by kreeyax

Are you sure more homes in North Texas had cracked pipes than the Houston area? I didn't hear about that from my friends up there, I don't think any of them had that issue. On my street here in Cypress it seemed like one out of every 3 or 4 homes had a pipe crack but they were mostly over the garages or outside. Unfortunately ours burst in the attic so we had quite a bit of damage. I know our home near Denton had metal pipes with no outside exposure. Here in Houston we have CPVC pipes with an exposed main outside, and our sprinkler backflow valves are above ground as well.

I think you may be right and I was misremembering the stats that were actually posted here on city data in the texas freeze thread. Found numbers on one source and Houston and Austin had similar percentages of homes with pipes that burst with DFW cities having a little less, but then Waco had the most. https://www.groundworks.com/resource...ruarys-crisis/

I had a couple friends in Houston who had their pipes burst and they were not fun repairs. One in Cypress lost his entire security system (pipe burst above the room where all the gadgets were).

[Houston Area Man]

What year do you think was the coldest winter in Houston?

[atadytic19]

Originally Posted by Houston Area Man

What year do you think was the coldest winter in Houston?

Apart from early 2021, there was a snap in the 80s that dropped the Temps a few degrees lower.
Then there's pics from like 70 or 80 years ago showing Houston covered in snow.

Dallas is in zone 8 and Houston is in zone 9.
Zone 8 gets regular cold snaps. Zone 9 gets occasional cold snaps.

Zone 8 lowest lows are on average 10 degrees colder than zone 9.

Houston's lowest low is between 20-30F
Dallas lowest low is between 10-20F

Zone 9 is listed as a year round planting zone in that it does NOT have regular 4 seasons. Leaves rarely change color. Most years go without a hard cold snap.

Zone 9 is not a year round planting zone in that there is usually some semblance of 4 seasons leaves will drop every year and there is good fall color most years.

Japanese Maples, Shuntaung maples, red maples usually show much more brilliant color in North Texas, while in SE Texas most years they go from a sort of purplish green to a coppery red.

Houston is on average a few degrees cooler in the summer as humid air absorbs more heat, but because of the humidity the heat index comes out to be almost identical. For example during the summer Dallas may be 109 degrees and Houston 99 degrees but both would have a heat index of 104.

[Houston Area Man]

So overall is houston getting warmer or cooler winters?

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by DabOnEm

Yet more homes in North Texas had those cracked piped issues than Houston. North Texas homes are not built like they do homes in the north. Besides that was a freak winter storm that any region would have suffered damages from. If you moved to Houston beginning of 2010 then you might have just missed the snow sprinkling and ice Houston got (Dfw got many inches of snow the same time).

The differences between Houston and DFW weather is more pronounced in the winter time, where a few degrees lower means it'll be raining ice for week whereas Houston will have cold rain instead. The summer, eh not that much

Stop. For crying out loud.