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Old 03-01-2010, 10:25 AM
 
3,501 posts, read 6,148,649 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IAPonyGirl View Post
This comment is really snarky. Why are people on this board so snarky all the time? The OP was just asking a simple question.
Read through the posts in this thread. You see "yeah, it's miserable" and "no, it's fine." How useful is that?? It all depends on how an individual perceives heat and what it's like where you come from. If the OP wants to know objectively how hot & humid it really is here in the summer, the best thing to do is get the data and compare to something that makes sense to him/her. So you may have perceived it to be a snarky response, but it's an honest and sensible response.
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Old 03-01-2010, 11:38 AM
 
Location: New England
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kornfed View Post
I think the summers are perfect. They are what they are suppose to be. It is warm and somewhat humid. Enough to make you sweat if you are working in the sun, but not so bad that you would sweat sitting in the shade. I really enjoy the summers. There is a cool off at night, so that makes for a nice night sitting outside as long as you want. Some people will always reference a summer a few years ago that was way out of the norm, but normal summers are great.
Quote:
Originally Posted by toodie View Post
The summers here are brutal. If you like sleeping for five months out of the year with your ceiling fan on and a/c set on 72 degrees and still feeling hot at night, not able to breathe fresh air, then you may be okay.

No, the nights do not cool off. If you attempt to sit out at night, it is still hot and humid, and plus there are tons of bugs out there that will try to run into your house when you open the door, plus bite you.

It's not a good place in summer. No. From late May through early October and sometimes later, it's gross. Hot. Humid. Bugs. Mold. All icky stuff.
imho
best,
toodie


My take on the subject FWIW - my "locals". Orlando, FL - Charlotte, NC - Hartford, CT.

Orlando was pretty brutal. Nothing like sitting on your front porch (If you have one) at 11pm with sweat dripping off your earlobes. Every night? No, but there were enough "late nights" with a humidity "fog" in the air to let you know, this isn't Kansas. Strongest "sun" of all places - by a mile it seemed.

Charlotte: Much, MUCH shorter "Summer" cycle than Florida. However, believe it or not, certain days would actually spike a little "hotter" than I experienced in Orlando. Again, it's not the norm and on most days it was much cooler than Orlando - but on those days that "spike" Orlando seemed more able to "moderate" the temps - perhaps because of the Ocean.

Night time seem to cool off plenty to head out for a walk or grill etc. Window open sleeping? No...but I don't even do that in CT.

Hartford: Very short "Summer Cycle", but a good 2-3 week period of nasty hot and humid weather. So we go to the shore to cool off...nice cool breeze off the ocean. The only problem with that is, humidity is relative and with the cooler air you feel clammy. Yuk. Night time by contrast can actually get cold to the point you want to build a fire or toss on a sweatshirt.

If you look at average high temps, Orlando in July is something like 91-92*, Raleigh is like 86-88*, and Hartford is something like 82-84*. NC seems to be right in the middle and so long as you don't go out and mow your lawn in height of the day you'll be fine...or as someone else said "be smart about it".
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Old 03-01-2010, 11:46 AM
 
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Miami is often times cooler than Raleigh is in the summer, add in the sea breeze and it's downright pleasant. Anytime you are inland in the south or east coast it will be hot hot hot. If you live near the coast the temps are much more moderate.

Our last summer was pretty nice however the summer before was BRUTAL. I couldn't walk my dog after 9 AM as it was just too hot with no wind what so ever.
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Old 03-01-2010, 11:47 AM
 
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Weather is relative. I've been here for three summers and while the heat can be intense at times I've never been bothered by it despite not loving hot weather seasons.

Everywhere most people go it's air-conditioned. Very few people need to wear formal attire and so it's easy to dress accordingly (e.g. short sleeves and shorts, flip-flops, etc.). And the only real trick is to plan outdoor related activities for early or late in the day.

But if you piped these same condition through the New York City region you'd have an increase in violent crimes. Humidity down here is nothing compared to back there. I can't provide a scientific explanation why that is but trust me that it's true. Maybe it's from those hundreds of days where I stood on a subway platform where it was impossible to breath because of the heat/humidity mixture, I don't know. All I can tell you is that for me the heat was a non-issue from the very beginning.
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Old 03-01-2010, 11:55 AM
 
Location: New England
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NYC2RDU View Post
Weather is relative. I've been here for three summers and while the heat can be intense at times I've never been bothered by it despite not loving hot weather seasons.

Everywhere most people go it's air-conditioned. Very few people need to wear formal attire and so it's easy to dress accordingly (e.g. short sleeves and shorts, flip-flops, etc.). And the only real trick is to plan outdoor related activities for early or late in the day.

But if you piped these same condition through the New York City region you'd have an increase in violent crimes. Humidity down here is nothing compared to back there. I can't provide a scientific explanation why that is but trust me that it's true. Maybe it's from those hundreds of days where I stood on a subway platform where it was impossible to breath because of the heat/humidity mixture, I don't know. All I can tell you is that for me the heat was a non-issue from the very beginning.
I don't disagree with the first half of your post, but if you wouldn't mind I'd like to see the scientific explanation because every humidity map I've seen shows the Triangle with higher humidity then NY/NJ/CT. (I do agree though that it's "livable", especially compared to a city like Orlando - that was just rediculous. )

Like this one:

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Old 03-01-2010, 12:08 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JViello View Post
I don't disagree with the first half of your post, but if you wouldn't mind I'd like to see the scientific explanation because every humidity map I've seen shows the Triangle with higher humidity then NY/NJ/CT. (I do agree though that it's "livable", especially compared to a city like Orlando - that was just rediculous. )

Like this one:
According to that map Raleigh has the same relative humidity as Orlando. Plus ridiculous is spelled with an "i" not an "e". Just a friendly PSA.
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Old 03-01-2010, 12:14 PM
 
Location: New England
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wheelsup View Post
According to that map Raleigh has the same relative humidity as Orlando. Plus ridiculous is spelled with an "i" not an "e". Just a friendly PSA.
Yes, that's an "average map" and my point, which is why I asked for his "scientific" explanation.

Besides, 92* with 70% humidity is a different world then 85*.

Thanks for the "spell check"...not all of us proof read simple forum posts before hitting "send". But I can apreesheate those who do.

BTW, it's P.S.A.
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Old 03-01-2010, 01:09 PM
 
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Well, having grown up in Orlando, lived in New England, and now living here, I can tell you that summers here are...somewhere in the middle.

I've had unbearably hot days in all three regions. The major difference I found on those hot days is how long the heat is around. In New England, you still need a light sweater every night no matter what. In Orlando, you'll break a sweat walking down the driveway to get your mail at midnight. In NC, well, I wouldn't say it's cool at night, but it certainly is a relief once the sun starts to go down. I moved here in late June, and I went out to play with the kids 4+ days a week throughout the summer. I'd take them out early in the morning. It didn't get unbearable until close to 11am. After 6pm or so, the edge was gone, so to speak, and it wasn't too bad to be outside again.

For me, I'd say the hot summer was slightly more tolerable than a New England winter. We could enjoy the outdoors most days if we paid attention to the time. In New England, there would be weeks on end with no relief from the bitter cold and the kids were stuck indoors the whole time.
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Old 03-01-2010, 02:04 PM
 
Location: Downtown Raleigh, NC
2,086 posts, read 7,629,738 times
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Although I grew up in the swamps of FL, I certainly never "adapted" to the heat + humidity down there. I hated it, quite frankly.

However, something is different here. Yes, the high temps do get higher than Miami sometimes, but the feeling is different. In Miami, you walk outside at 7:00 am and it's like walking into a sauna, your face immediately gets grimy and you begin to sweat just walking from your house to the car. The night temps do not go down all that much, and neither does the humidity, it really sticks around.

Here, I find myself able to bear those 90-100* days better because those days are often less humid (to me) than the same 85-90* days in Miami. The humidity here builds gradually, peaks, and then decreases some. The night time temperatures decrease enough to feel the difference. Sure, it doesn't get cool enough to shut off the a/c, but there is certainly a big difference between 85* and 75% humidity at 2:00 am and 75* and 50% humidity at the same time of day.

As for the "sea breeze" effect. Well, I guess if there were no sea breezes it there would be more days in the 95+ range in Miami. I just remember not feeling any breezes on most days when I would run in the evenings for 9 months out of the year. No breeze, and so much humidity my sweat could not evaporate, so I would look like I jumped in a pool by the time I got done. When I run here at the same time of day during the summer I still sweat, but at least my sweat can evaporate better and I don't have that drowned rat look when I'm done.
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Old 03-01-2010, 03:28 PM
 
Location: South Beach and DT Raleigh
13,966 posts, read 24,064,563 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wheelsup View Post
Miami is often times cooler than Raleigh is in the summer, add in the sea breeze and it's downright pleasant. Anytime you are inland in the south or east coast it will be hot hot hot. If you live near the coast the temps are much more moderate.

Our last summer was pretty nice however the summer before was BRUTAL. I couldn't walk my dog after 9 AM as it was just too hot with no wind what so ever.
Have you lived a Summer in Miami? I have been through 8 of them and can tell you that there's a HUGE difference. As for the claim of a breeze, it's hard to find unless there's a hurricane approaching. As MiamiBlue has said, it's downright swampy at all hours of the day. For a few months, the overnight lows are above 80. It's typical to look up at the time and temperature clock in Miami Beach to see the temp at 87 degrees at midnight. You sweat just standing still in the middle of the night outside. After a typical daytime high of 90, it essentially stays hot and humid constantly. I don't care what chart anyone provides, Raleigh is like a desert compared Miami in the Summer.
The other thing that happens in Raleigh is that the humidity levels drop as the temps climb through the 90s toward 100. If anyone remembers the recent droughts, the temps were high but the water was nowhere. It was more oven hot like it gets in CA, AZ or NV than it was swampy like Miami, Houston or New Orleans.
But, as I said in a previous post, it's all relative.
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