Brutal Summers, Comfortable Winters
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7/20/2006
I've lived in the Fort Worth/Dallas area in Texas since 1988 and have always hated the summers here. The average high during the hottest period here (the last two weeks of July through the first two weeks of August) is 96 degrees F. However, it is very common to have many days over 100 with some days reaching 105 or hotter (It's been 102 to 105 every day this week). In addition to the miserable heat, we are close enough to the Gulf of Mexico to have many days with a fair amount of humidity. There isn't much escape at night, either. On many evenings, the temperature can still be in the mid-90's at 10:00 PM. I try to stay in the house in the summer. We also have plenty of air pollution watch days throughout the summer. Heat, humidity, and air pollution: that sums up what summers are like.
Winters, on the other hand, are quite comfortable: usually in the 60's. It can get down into the teens and even single digits once-in-awhile, but that never lasts more than a day or two, then the wind is back from the south bringing up warm Gulf air. Being raised in northern Oklahoma, I grew up playing in snow in the winters. It does snow here once or twice a year but it usually melts within a day. I miss the snow.
Patrick | Arlington, TX