More Oppressive Summer: Houston vs. Taipei Basin floor (climate, tornadoes, hot)

[MrJester]

Houston vs. Taipei! Which has the more oppressive summer?

Taipei has surrounding mountains of over 3,000 feet, while Houston is all flat. But let's limit the discussion to the Taipei Basin floor to make this a closer call.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei#Climatee[url]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston#Climate

1. Which is more muggy? Has higher dew points?
2. Which has higher heat indices?
3. Which has hotter nights?
4. Which has more humid heat waves? Heard that Houston humidity drops during a heat wave; is this true for Taipei?
5. Which has more sea breezes?
6. Which has more hurricanes/typhoons?
7. Which has better summer air quality?

Houston Intercontinental has slightly higher average highs than Taipei Songshan Airport, but Houston Hobby has lower highs than both. Galveston has the lowest summer highs but the summer lows are the warmest in all of Greater Houston and seem to rival Taipei Songshan's summer lows. George Bush Airport has higher record highs than Taipei Songshan, though I believe heat waves in Houston tend also to see humidity decrease, not sure if that's the same in Taipei.

Houston would seem to have more sea breezes than Taipei, since there's nothing but flat terrain separating Houston from the Gulf. Taipei is hemmed in by mountains.

Finally, while Houston has worse than average air quality for a U.S. city, I doubt the pollution is anywhere as bad as Taipei, which is in a basin. Houston would seem to have more sea breeze to flush the pollution out. However, Taipei's pollution problems is worst during the dry winters; I think Houston's pollution problem is worst during the summer.

And for an added bonus: Which has more intense hurricanes/typhoons? It seems like Taipei's excellent flood control infrastructure and the fact that most people live in high rises greatly mitigate flooding in Taipei compared to Houston, but it also seems like Taipei has super typhoons with far greater winds and far greater frequency than Houston's hurricanes.

[klimkin199]

Houston have higher humidity than Taipei (75% vs 73%) and hotter days (34,7°C vs 34,3°C)
1) Houston, because of higher humidity and temperature.
2) Houston, because of higher humidity and temperature.
3) Taipei.
4) Taipei, but they are less hot than Houston's heatwaves.
5) Taipei, because it's closer to the coast.
6) Houston has more hurricanes and tornadoes.
7) Taipei, because it's rainier.

[wawa1992]

Overall, Taipei has the more oppressive summer, by a razor-thin margin.

1: Houston, but barely.
2: Per Weatherspark, Taipei's heat index tops out at 106 F / 41 C around July 10; Houston tops out around 104 F / 40 C around August 3.
3. Taipei.
4. Probably Taipei.
5. Taipei.
6. Houston, it gets a lot of hurricanes as well as tornadoes, while tornadoes aren't as much of a threat in Taipei.
7. Taipei.

To calculate how oppressive the summers are, I came up with an oppressiveness index. Each day with a heat index over 85 F / 29 C gets one point, then two points for 90, 3 for 95, 4 for 100, and 5 for 105.

Spoiler

Taipei:
Heat index >105 F / 41 C: July 3 - July 28 (26 days)
Heat index >100 F / 37 C: June 18 - September 2 (77 days)
Heat index >95 F / 35 C: June 7 - September 15 (102 days)
Heat index >90 F / 32 C: May 29 - September 28 (124 days)
Heat index >85 F / 29 C: April 30 - October 14 (169 days)
Total: 498

Houston:
Heat index >105 F / 41 C: does not reach this on average
Heat index >100 F / 37 C: June 30 - August 28 (60 days)
Heat index >95 F / 35 C: June 4 - September 14 (104 days)
Heat index >90 F / 32 C: May 20 - September 29 (133 days)
Heat index >85 F / 29 C: May 1 - October 15 (169 days)
Total: 466 (in actuality, probably a bit higher because it almost has a 105+ spell)

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by wawa1992

Overall, Taipei has the more oppressive summer, by a razor-thin margin.

1: Houston, but barely.
2: Per Weatherspark, Taipei's heat index tops out at 106 F / 41 C around July 10; Houston tops out around 104 F / 40 C around August 3.
3. Taipei.
4. Probably Taipei.
5. Taipei.
6. Houston, it gets a lot of hurricanes as well as tornadoes, while tornadoes aren't as much of a threat in Taipei.
7. Taipei.

To calculate how oppressive the summers are, I came up with an oppressiveness index. Each day with a heat index over 85 F / 29 C gets one point, then two points for 90, 3 for 95, 4 for 100, and 5 for 105.

1. I'm just not seeing how Houston would have higher average dew points than Taipei. With Weatherspark, I checked out Taipei Songshan vs. Houston Hobby (which would have higher dew points than George Bush) and Taipei Songshan has a higher percentage of "miserable" and "oppressive" humidity days. Care to explain?

2. Taipei is closer to the sea than Houston. But how much sea breeze is there in Taipei compared to, say Galveston? I'd think Taipei actually has very little sea breeze, because of all the mountains that block sea breezes from the ocean; isn't that true?

3. Sure, Taipei has less tornadoes. But I was asking only about hurricanes/typhoons. It seems like typhoons in Taiwan are at least as frequent and intense as hurricanes in Florida.