Visiting Texas in the Summer/Heat (Dallas, Austin: homes, school, place to live)

[Siggy20]

Hi folks,
Before making the big plunge to move out of our current state which I have come to loathe, we are thinking about making a trip to Texas again for a visit but mostly to experience the heat and how my husband can take it. I've grown up in warm climates (Hawaii, CA, Australia) and don't mind the heat all that much. As an adult, I've experienced many hot East Coast summers. During our heat wave last summer where temps were in the high 90s, I could happily sit outside for hours and read my book. Florida, in the midst of summer, doesn't bother me that much other than sweating a bit more and I spend quite a bit outside because I need the warmth. Frankly the thing that bothers me the most during summer is walking back inside to what feels like subzero temperature in heavily air conditioned buildings. I carry a sweater around in the summer, lol. During my many years in the Army, hazy, miserable days were just guaranteed and you simply had to drink much more water while doing physical activities.

So my question...I assume that late June/early July is a good time to feel the full brunt of Texas heat to see if we can take it? Or at least if my husband can? I recall flying into Texas many years ago during the summer and it feeling like a furnace blast. I then spent six weeks in Ft. Polk, LA doing Army stuff and it was hot there too. I spent a few summers in NM and found them quite nice but honestly don't recall them being overly hot. I know that a week trip isn't enough to gage Texas heat, especially when the hot months last so long. I know that it can really wear people down. Or should we wait until August which I assume is the hottest? Mostly, we want to visit Texas at its worst. We are looking to Dallas as our goal. We visited a few years ago in March which was lovely but a bit chilly still.

Sorry to sound wimpy to ask this question but the heat and how my husband will survive is foremost in my mind lately. If he had to choose the perfect place to live, it would be Seattle where he went to school. Personally, I would die there. Each year we visit to see my dad, I'm miserable. I need warmth and sustained warmth is best. Hawaii is my perfect climate but I know that I'm not getting that anywhere except Hawaii.

Thanks for any input.

[ChristieP]

Those of us who live here all year know that in order to really acclimate the heat, you need to do it gradually during the spring months. Simply showing up and trying to "expose" yourself to the full summer heat is a good way to get heat exhaustion and be dehydrated! So please, do be careful!!

Also, everything here is air conditioned. The only time you will really be out in the heat is at a totally outdoor venue, or when you walk from your air conditioned car to the air conditioned buildings! There are many of us native texans who simply hide indoors during the heat of the summer, sipping cold iced tea while we sit under the ceiling fan in our air conditioned homes. We go outside after dark when the heat backs off. If there's something that must be done in the daylight, such as yard work, we do it as early as possible to finish before it gets too hot.

[Willsson]

June/July is still spring and not yet hot. Mid/late August into September is when the heat settles in and overnight lows may hover in the mid-80's... yes, the LOW temp. By my conditioning, only then is it really hot.

As ChristieP says, we now have air conditioning. In the summer I keep mine at about 78F and use fans to keep the air circulating. Inside or out, shade and a mild breeze is half the battle of surviving in the heat. And a frosty glass of sweet tea.

I was amused one fine mid-90's August day in Seattle, I had gone into a shop with no A/C. The doors were open for a great breeze. A customer in the store was commenting to another about how hot it was and he was 'wearing levi's'. As though that made it worse. Jeez, businessmen in Texas wear coat and tie on the hottest day of the year. Something about money....

[Cathy4017]

Make no mistake about it. Texas heat is still like a blast furnace, especially from July to the end of September. Most of the state (with the exception of far West Texas and the Panhandle) is going to compound the heat with humidity, making it yet worse.

Yes, you can sort of acclimate, but it's never pleasant (as a native who spent 55 years in Texas before leaving in 2007), and the older I got, the more I hated it. While dry heat is more tolerable to some, it's still HOT.

I may return to Texas, but I'm not going to spend the worst part of summer there--that will be in NM, CO, WY, etc, someplace where summers are dry and relatively cooler.

My money says that if you LIKE heat--and still consider Texas a blast furnace, DH isn't going to like it one bit, even after so-called "acclimating" to it.

We worship at the altar of refrigerated air!

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Willsson

June/July is still spring and not yet hot. Mid/late August into September is when the heat settles in and overnight lows may hover in the mid-80's... yes, the LOW temp. By my conditioning, only then is it really hot.

As ChristieP says, we now have air conditioning. In the summer I keep mine at about 78F and use fans to keep the air circulating. Inside or out, shade and a mild breeze is half the battle of surviving in the heat. And a frosty glass of sweet tea.

I was amused one fine mid-90's August day in Seattle, I had gone into a shop with no A/C. The doors were open for a great breeze. A customer in the store was commenting to another about how hot it was and he was 'wearing levi's'. As though that made it worse. Jeez, businessmen in Texas wear coat and tie on the hottest day of the year. Something about money....

Yes, businessmen do wear coat and tie on the hottest days, but they are going from an air-conditioned car to an air-conditioned office all day long.

I remember when Sis visited Seattle not too long ago, and it reached 102, which is absolutely hot for Seattle. Combine that with AC being uncommon there--and the high humidity--it was a disaster. She left Austin for a supposedly cooler vacation in the heat of summer--boy, what a surprise!

[Willsson]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Yes, businessmen do wear coat and tie on the hottest days, but they are going from an air-conditioned car to an air-conditioned office all day long.

I remember when Sis visited Seattle not too long ago, and it reached 102, which is absolutely hot for Seattle. Combine that with AC being uncommon there--and the high humidity--it was a disaster. She left Austin for a supposedly cooler vacation in the heat of summer--boy, what a surprise!

Yeah, and I guess they were doing that before there was such a thing as air conditioning, eh?

[Two4damoney]

I try to do my stuff in the morning or at night in the summer. During the peak of the day I'm inside drinking sweet tea with the AC on.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Willsson

Yeah, and I guess they were doing that before there was such a thing as air conditioning, eh?

Yes. YUCK!

But earlier homes were also built to take advantage of what shade and breezes there were--wrap-around porches, screened-in porches, more trees for shade, front and back overhangs, etc.

[An0nym0us88]

I get tired of people complaining about the heat, ask yourself this question... Would you rather be in a blizzard situation or be in 100-F where you could actually drive or go do outdoor stuff while drinking water?

I'm very used to the heat but I just don't prefer it. I'm just thankful that I live in Texas.

It is just HOT & HUMID, typically hotter than the rest of the deep south including Florida.

[An0nym0us88]

Originally Posted by Linmora

During our heat wave last summer where temps were in the high 90s, I could happily sit outside for hours and read my book. Florida, in the midst of summer, doesn't bother me that much other than sweating a bit more and I spend quite a bit outside because I need the warmth.

Florida feels a lot like South, Southeastern, and Eastern Texas as far as summer weather goes.