Okay, how many "hot" days like this should I expect per year? (Seattle: apartment, home)

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by josie13

I feel as if I'm living in a different Northwest from many people on this thread. I'm originally from Northern California, where summers are warmer than here. None of my family had AC there, and I only know a few people who have it here (and they are rich and have everything as a matter of course anyway).

When summer comes, it's warm because that's what summertime means. It's not something to run away from. We have three ceiling fans in our house and one oscillating fan with a face about 18" to keep us cooler. We don't expect our house to be 70 degrees in summer. We like to keep the windows open and hear the birds and feel a breeze cross-ventilating the house. Doesn't AC make you feel cut off from your environment?

Growing up in a really big family, our babies, toddlers, and schoolkids just rolled with the summertime heat in Northern CA and I have no memories of discomfort at all. My kids and I live the same way now, although we do prefer cooler weather. It's just bizarre to me to be so fearful of the fairly moderate summer temps we have here in the PNW. Now, Tucson, when I've visited family in the summertime, has heat that is truly infernal and inhuman. "How do you people live like this?" I cried. They don't go out in the infernal heat and everyone cools their home. But here? I don't get it.

Actually almost all of the rest of the country outside parts of the west coast have AC, it's standard in homes in most areas. The normal thing to do in most of the country is to set the thermostat on a temp that people are comfortable with and leave it- so the house never gets uncomfortable. They don't feel disconnected- that's just how it is. They keep the house comfortable, and if they want to be hot they go outside. The reverse is actually true that they feel it's odd that so many of us out here choose to not have AC and just deal with houses getting hot in the summertime. They see that as a lower standard of living, like they would do in poor parts of the world.

[josie13]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I grew up in Northern California, and summers were cool, mostly in the 70's. Now and then there would be a few days in the low 80's, but the fog would come in the evening and cool everything off so people could sleep. So I don't know which part of NorCal you lived in, but the north Coast is always cool, with the possible exception of areas on the peninsula south of SF.

Seattle, on the other hand, was always much warmer, especially from mid-July through August. Cutting oneself off from the environment via AC in the house is exactly the point, when the house temp gets into the 80's, or even the high 70's. But to each his/her own. If you can enjoy it, then more power to you! However, as the planet heats up and weather patterns change, and Seattle sets new high temp records for itself, you can't blame people for wanting to stay cool, and to keep their kids cool.

I grew up on the SF Peninsula, near Stanford University. Summertimes were very, very warm, frequently hitting the high 90s and low 100s. There was no coastal breeze, and we weren't near the SF Bay, either. No evening fog.

Seattle summers are much more temperate than the area I'm describing. We moved away from California a little over 10 years ago, so my memories are rather recent, along with my two children who, like me, have never lived in house with AC.

[Botev1912]

Originally Posted by thisplacesucks

Seriously, Portland hit 106?? OMG

July 29, 2009. Seattle hit 103 which is the official all time high.

[Ira500]

In answer to the original question. Seattle averages 24 days per year where the high temperature is 80 or over(which most people around here recognize as hot). Both 2013 and 2014 had over 40 days at 80 or over, and after today, we will have had our 9th day at 80 or over, and it's not even mid June yet. In 2012, we only had 19 days at 80 or over.

[josie13]

Originally Posted by jm31828

Actually almost all of the rest of the country outside parts of the west coast have AC, it's standard in homes in most areas. The normal thing to do in most of the country is to set the thermostat on a temp that people are comfortable with and leave it- so the house never gets uncomfortable. They don't feel disconnected- that's just how it is. They keep the house comfortable, and if they want to be hot they go outside. The reverse is actually true that they feel it's odd that so many of us out here choose to not have AC and just deal with houses getting hot in the summertime. They see that as a lower standard of living, like they would do in poor parts of the world.

I didn't know that. When I visit relatives in Tucson, they have AC. But my relatives in Michigan did not have it, and when we lived in a big house in Stamford, CT, nobody had AC there either. That was close to Long Island Sound, but it definitely got hot there in the summertime. We went swimming a lot.

[josie13]

Originally Posted by jm31828

Actually almost all of the rest of the country outside parts of the west coast have AC, it's standard in homes in most areas. The normal thing to do in most of the country is to set the thermostat on a temp that people are comfortable with and leave it- so the house never gets uncomfortable. They don't feel disconnected- that's just how it is. They keep the house comfortable, and if they want to be hot they go outside. The reverse is actually true that they feel it's odd that so many of us out here choose to not have AC and just deal with houses getting hot in the summertime. They see that as a lower standard of living, like they would do in poor parts of the world.

I don't think of Europe as poor or having a lower standard of living. I've lived in two countries in Europe and none of the private homes I lived in or visited had AC. It's a different mindset.

[Botev1912]

European apartments don't have central AC. You buy it yourself (if you want).

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by josie13

I don't think of Europe as poor or having a lower standard of living. I've lived in two countries in Europe and none of the private homes I lived in or visited had AC. It's a different mindset.

Yeah, I was just saying that is the mindset of most people in much of the rest of the country in regards to this, how they couldn't imagine people living without AC. Much of western Europe has very moderate weather similar to the pacific northwest, so they likely have the same mindset about AC as many here in this area do.

I have lived in many other states- eastern Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and have spent time with family in Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania. AC is standard in all of those places due to summer weather that consistently is in the 80's or above. Sure you will find some people, especially further north in places like Michigan or parts of the Northeast that don't have AC, but it is pretty standard for people to have it in their homes. The only areas I've seen where it's mostly standard NOT to have it are here in the Pacific Northwest and the coastal parts of California.

[Botev1912]

Originally Posted by Ira500

In answer to the original question. Seattle averages 24 days per year where the high temperature is 80 or over(which most people around here recognize as hot). Both 2013 and 2014 had over 40 days at 80 or over, and after today, we will have had our 9th day at 80 or over, and it's not even mid June yet. In 2012, we only had 19 days at 80 or over.

I just found the official data for Seatac. Last year had 45 days of 80 degrees or more, 40 in 2013, 21 in 2012, 22 in 2011. For comparison San Francisco (downtown) had 15 days last year, 7 in 2013, 7 in 2012, 14 in 2011.

[angelenogirl]

Originally Posted by Botev1912

European apartments don't have central AC. You buy it yourself (if you want).

Along with kitchens.