Dallas summers v. DC summers (Sachse: hotel, living in, homeowner)

[Cronous81]

I wanted to see if Dallas summers are roughly comparable to DC summers or if one is better than the other. I heard about Dallas summers being bad and wanted to see if my experiences here are comparable.

[TurtleCreek80]

Dallas summers are just hot, hot, hot. DC (and much of the eastern seaboard) don't have temperatures that rise as high as they do in Dallas, but the humidity % gets much higher, which IMO is worse. 90 degrees + 90% humidity in NYC is far far worse to me than 110 in Dallas.

Then, there is the duration. DC is only really uncomfortable from, what, mid-July through Labor Day? Dallas is consistently in 90-100's from May through September.

[jdallas]

It also doesn't cool down at night in Dallas like it does in DC. It's not uncommon in Dallas to have over 100 degree temps at midnight in July.

[ChristieP]

Ditto to TC. The duration is a little longer here, but they have more humidity. At least everything is air conditioned here (sometimes too well) unlike in DC!

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by jdallas

It also doesn't cool down at night in Dallas like it does in DC. It's not uncommon in Dallas to have over 100 degree temps at midnight in July.

Hot overnight, yea. Over 100 overnight - never!!

Summer "lows" even in the worst summers, even in the middle of a 100+ run during the day, rarely are higher than mid-80's. Still doesn't provide much of a respite from the daytime temps, but it does come down a bit.

Below is a link to the daily highs & lows of 2011, the hottest month on record in Dallas. You'll see that even on the day with the highest low, it was around 86-87 and the average low was 79.9.

August 2011 Review - DFW

[Considering Coming Back]

I lived in DC 7 years and prefer Dallas summers. You can sit outside at night in Dallas, in DC your shirt will stick to you no matter what.

Some incorrect assumptions: everything in both cities is AC'd; it rarely gets to 110 in Dallas, that happens like once every other summer; it often won't drop below 80 at night in both cities.

Two summers ago when the East Coast had that week long heat wave was the worst thing I have ever experienced. I felt like I was living inside of an exhaust pipe. It was 110+ and the heat index in DC hit 120. I have never come close to that feeling in Dallas.

[DaveG99]

DC

July
Average high temperature: 89
Average low temperature: 67


Dallas
Average high temperature: 96
Average low temperature: 76

Dallas stays that hot for 3-4 months

[Moorhen3]

I have spent the last two summers in Herndon, Va and in my opinion, the summer was more tolerable there. Sometimes I kinda felt bad that we were in Herndon enjoying much better temperatures than what was happening back home(Sachse). The thunderstorms were quite comparable but here in my part of Dallas county, if the electricity went out, it wasn't too long-maybe cause the lines here are underground. But over there, last summer, after a pretty bad thunderstorm, it took almost a day for the lights to come back on. Well, at least it did for us but some homeowners had to endure days without electricity. We were staying at a long term stay hotel so we got to talk with them.
Also, there are lots and lots of gnats over there and yes, I do agree that the humidity is worse over in Virginia.

[jdallas]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Hot overnight, yea. Over 100 overnight - never!!

Summer "lows" even in the worst summers, even in the middle of a 100+ run during the day, rarely are higher than mid-80's. Still doesn't provide much of a respite from the daytime temps, but it does come down a bit.

Below is a link to the daily highs & lows of 2011, the hottest month on record in Dallas. You'll see that even on the day with the highest low, it was around 86-87 and the average low was 79.9.

August 2011 Review - DFW

In the downtown concrete jungle, it was over 100 on quite a few nights last summer around midnight. I sent screencaps to my friends up north after leaving our kickball after parties. It happens and it's not fun. During the same time, my running group had to meet at 5:30am during long run training days simply because it would be near 100 by 9:30am at white rock lake.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

The heat is much more intense in Dallas, but the humidity in DC is much worse than anything in Dallas.