3 ms·

Texas is fairly dry, though, yes? The heat combined with humidity is the real killer.

• _delirium 12y ago
  The populated parts aren't dry at all. Houston in particular is incredibly humid year-round, and Austin and Dallas are also quite humid. West Texas is dry, but also largely unpopulated.
• techsupporter 12y ago
  Even at 0% humidity (which is virtually never; right now in 76148, or the suburbs north of Fort Worth, it is 95F at 16% humidity. Tomorrow has a forecast high of 101F at 22% humidity), temps above 100F are unbearable. I say this as someone who was born and raised in Texas. We planned our days around A/C, our parking around the afternoon shade, and it's gotten so bad now that high school football (a religion in Texas all its own) is restricting practices outdoors between 2PM and 6PM (the hottest part of the day) between mid-May and mid-September. Yes, it's not as hot (115F on average) or as humid (80%+) as some parts of the world, but for us, it sucks. Especially since houses built in Texas since the mid-60s are built to have air conditioning. They don't have whole-house fans and they don't have large windows that open. Fancy houses have bay windows that face the southwest that don't open so the house is like a glass oven. Radiant barriers in the attic and high-efficiency A/C provide some relief, but most summers it's just a beating. In 2011, the local news stopped counting the number of consecutive days above 100F and just kept count of days above 105F. Several days that summer broke 110F...