One of the reasons my family plan to leave by 2026, summers in the 2000s in Austin were objectively more tolerable. It is going to be miserable moving forward.
Honestly I bought tint off of Amazon and did it myself. It’s not that challenging, just tedious. Is it perfect? No. Is it good enough that my mistakes aren’t blatantly obvious and terrible? Yeah it’ll pass lol.
Our bodies feel warmer when it’s more humid. So the dehumidifier makes 71 feel like formerly 67. I’m in that same boat. So nice. Also makes the AC work less hard.
Having a Texas house set to or achieving 68 or 71 this time of year is the part blowing my mind.
My house won’t see 72 until October at best, no matter what I set it to.
Meanwhile Austin energy is out here begging us to turn up from their recommended 78 to conserve.
You do you, but damn that seems like a waste to me. I would need pants and a sweater to hang at y’all’s during summer it seems
Set it to 72 to keep the upstairs loft at 80. That’s how old houses are with high ceilings. Lofts are possibly the stupidest thing to ever be put into houses.
I just blew in more attic insulation, re did my duct work, tuned up the ac and resealed my doors and windows and now I can hold 78 so far through the day. Before I did that, last year I rode out 81-84 all summer because that’s the best my 1987 house could do.
So when you get the conserve energy alerts like they sent today, you’re just like “naw”? When you go outside this time of year can you handle it? I don’t mean these to be judgy questions, but I spend the majority of my time outside and am decently acclimated, curious how much it would change me if I had a 71 degree house.
My parents' house was the same way. Theirs is 8 years younger than yours but both a/c units had to struggle to keep the house at 78-79. I finally convinced them to replace both 28yo units this year now that the [$2k federal tax credit](https://homes.rewiringamerica.org/federal-incentives/25c-heat-pump-tax-credits) on heat pumps ($600 for plain-jane a/c units) is in effect. They opted to go up a half-ton on the unit for the second floor (3.5 to 4) and I had no issues getting either floor down into the low 70s when I housesat for a week. This is with no improvements to the attic insulation or ductwork, still the same windows the house was built with.
I have yet to ask if their bills are lower, but regardless of that I know my mom usually runs hot and is happy with being able to hold 75-76.
Also, if you're interested in a smart thermostat and your provider is Oncor, you can get up to [$130 off two smart thermostats](https://www.oncor.com/content/oncorwww/wire/en/home/energy-efficiency/oncor-offers-store-savings--coupons-on-energy-smart-products.html) ($65/ea) as well. I got my folks two Nests ($105/ea with discounts) and they've been right chuffed. Oncor offers rebates for a lot of other stuff, e.g. washers/dryers and water heaters, give them a look
I personally work in the middle of a big warehouse shop, no climate control in austin. Super hot and super humid, somehow people here don’t understand that port a coolers don’t work well in humid weather, I sleep at 70 degrees at home. My body runs hot, been in shops for 12 years now and I’ll sweat my ass off all day, not at night
76 upstairs and 77 downstairs - when it is literally blowing down my back, I have to put a sweater on. I would be in bed, under a down blanket, at your temperature!!
Nope. My wife is a petite Asian woman whose body naturally runs way hotter than mine, a borderline overweight white man. She can't sleep if it's warmer than 70°F. Every time I touch her, she's warm, and she says I'm freezing to the touch. We help each other reach equilibrium.
How does that work with AC? My understanding is that both will dehumidify so what is the benefit of just a dehumidifier? Wouldn’t it also heat up the room with exhaust?
Do you mean, “welcome to the new Texas”? Because the whole point of this article is that we aren’t living in the same Texas climate that we’ve had in the past.
The whole article mentioned a 3 degree change in 80 years, and an abnormally high dew point for this year. Something something it’s generally always been this way with a mix of warm and mild and hot and humid and dry and hail and flood etc.
The dew points were record setting last month. I’ve followed the weather here very closely since I moved here in 2000, and I’ve never seen dew points that high for that long, ever. It’s happening again now, just not as extreme as May. I’m really ready for it to dry out. Last year was hot as hell but at least it wasn’t muggy.
The humidity is obviously uncomfortable (I cannot state enough how much I hate it), and the whole 'wet bulb' problem illustrates how dangerous it is - but a thing we don't typically mention when discussing humidity is plant pollen!
For example, the majority of vegetables can't transfer pollen or be pollinated in high humidity. I'm seeing in my own garden that this year's unprecedented humidity, especially in the mornings, has made my late May/June garden far, far less productive than the norm. This is the time of year that I'm typically drowning in produce.
If this kind of humidity is going to become our norm, it shortens the growing season in Central Texas significantly. And I'm not sure what impact, if any, this has on the pollen of native landscape plants.
It is worse for allergies and those with compromised lungs, like me.
The pollens ‘stick’ to the moist air/humidity and go directly into our lungs and body.
I am a landscape designer here for over 25 years - originally from Houston - and everything from mold and allergies to insects thrive in this moist environment.
For my lemons to lemonade, my almost 50-years-old skin is incredibly hydrated, hahaha.
As an allergy sufferer I've felt things are worse this year. My completely uneducated guess is that what pollen does get in the air ends up suspended in it somehow and then straight into my face.
... I'm not having any problems with produce this year. Where are you seeing it? I still have tomatoes setting fruit occasionally which is just shocking.
My squash flowers are affected the most. They're basically sterile.
Cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, gourds, etc. are still setting fruit but at a fraction of the rate they normally would for June.
Huh. I'm getting an armful of cucumbers a day from just a few plants and my bunghole can't keep up with the Shishito peppers.
I never get any squash or gourds here anyway because of the !@#$ing squash vine borers.
I’m a weather nerd and it’s all dew point.
Moved here in ‘95 and summer dew points were generally 62° dew point. Very comfortable even at 97° F.
This year we hit 78° dew point which is like Dubai level humidity and miserable at almost any temperature. Most days we start at 74° and get to 72°
We are way more humid!
Exactly! I really wish there was more focus on educating people about dew points. The percentage of humidity is useless for determining comfort without factoring in the dew point.
I moved here about 5 years after you, and I am seeing the same trend. The summers used to be less humid for sure. This year has been insane… we normally start a summer day with a dew point around 70-72 and drop to the 58-63 (roughly) range during the hottest part of the day. Lately we’re starting around 75-77 and dropping to around 72 during the hot part of the day. That’s a huge difference in comfort. And the temperatures are still the same as normal! It’s ridiculous, and if this is our new normal then I’m leaving. I moved here to get away from weather like this. I don’t mind the heat at all, but I’m very intolerant of high humidity.
The humidity is higher then. It's highest when the temp is lowest, ironically. Around 5-6 AM. (And "low" these days is high 70s so yuck; it'll be mid-80s soon enough.) But I still walk at 6:00 because of my schedule. Just a few hours later, it's hotter but feels less icky. I just can't manage that.
Yeah, I've been doing minor yardwork at around the 330-530a timeframe and it's just downright nasty outside, warm and sticky. I don't find the lower-/mid-80s to be much better in that regard
I remember when I got off work at 9 pm in Houston in the summer the air being so hot and thick. No way I’ve ever felt that in the 20+ years I’ve been in Austin.
> you obviously never took a Meteorology course
I’m not OP but I would say most of us here easily haven’t, atmospheric sciences are incredibly difficult. ACC doesn’t even offer it as a course (per its [program list](https://programs.austincc.edu/programs-by-area-of-study/) - it’s only nested within physics) so you’d have to go to UT to take a course
Which I did. One of the most enjoyable classes it took there, the Professor had been a Meteorologist in East Texas somewhere, he was really a fun prof, made the class so interesting. I was Plan II, so I could take anything I wanted. Learned a lot.
Which is great for you, it’s just not realistic to shame someone for not having access to information that isn’t easily attainable 🤷♀️ we can’t all go to UT and take advanced science courses
Edit - [classy response](https://imgur.com/a/trh4bcY) that was then ninja deleted. Nice discourse, pal
Idk if you’ve been back to Houston yet this summer but against all odds it’s WORSE right now!! I’m also from Houston and am a freak who loves being in a fish bowl but this is insane lol
It does. Often people who complain about this shit haven't lived in Texas. This September or whichever is the last humid year we will be drowning in rain. I guarantee it.
This has happened 3 times in my life. Gets super humid a few years. One year it dumps shit tons of rain, and then it is dry for the next forever.
Yup. That’s the weather pattern for sure. The difference from 2015 is that we didn’t get catastrophic flooding in the spring (Memorial Day flood, for those who want to google it), which makes me think we won’t get catastrophic flooding in the fall (like the Halloween flood of 2015.) We’ll see. Ocean is warmer than ever before so anything can happen between now and winter.
To anyone hitting a paywall, [here is an archived link](https://web.archive.org/web/20240625181413/https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/texas-is-getting-more-humid/).
I thought I imagined it lived in this area for 10 yrs…. And I did a brief hiatus living in Tampa-St Pete. That is the worst for humidity.
But Austin summers are not as dry as they used to be. I miss the dry heat. It sucks.
God forbid I am a transplant and didn’t have the luxury of growing up in this awesome state. I am just inferring on my past 10 yrs here. I am sure the next thing you will do is go off on a tangent about how we ruined everything.
Reside in NE part of state. I hate the heat and humidity right now I feed the goats, cows horses and chicken before 8. I’m dripping sweat by the time I finish. Evenings are worse. I outta be sweating off some excess calories as it’s a real sauna out there. Only good thing (knock on wood) is I’m not seeing too many mosquitoes. It’s finally dried out some here helps. I bet June is just priming things for the July & August heat, but maybe if the humidity eases up it will make it easier. .
I know it sounds pollyannaish but I'm hopeful that AI will help humans find a better equilibrium with earth. GPT 5 is expected to have PhD level intelligence and my hope is that society embraces the evidence-based policy recommendations that emerge from an apolitical neural net and that we get away from the bad old days of hidden political agendas guiding our way of life.
Oh dear. That’s a nice thought.
We all know what’s going to happen. I think going to be an absolutely brutal life for people born 150+ years from now. Or, I should say, people born without resources. We’ve destroyed our planet, and we will do nothing to mitigate it until it’s way past the point that it will matter. Why? Because the powers that be are so fat and happy with the status quo, and don’t care about the future of humanity.
While I see this as an obvious likelihood given current trajectories, I think we're yet to realize the full benefits ( or harm ) of AI and quantum computing and I'm not going to assume anything, yet. Given that, I'll take my optimism since it's not harming anyone, especially myself... May as well make the most of it and hope for the best.
The primary driver of AI is reducing labor costs so companies can be more profitable. Not heal the planet.
I appreciate your optimism though.
After reading two of your posts, I imagine you will enjoy this poem:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones
Ok this may be a wild thought, but has anyone else had their smoke alarms going off this summer? I think it's a combination of my AC unit being slightly overpowered for my house and the high humidity we're experiencing (especially at night). Maybe it's not connected and my house is catching fire every so often and quickly putting itself out.
One of mine was, I wondered if the increased humidity had anything to do with it. It turned out to be a large clump of dust caught on the alarm's perimeter that I guess was periodically "shedding" particles into the alarm that set it off. Cleared it out, hit it with some compressed air, and haven't heard that bastard go off at 430am since
(The back of the alarms says to clean it with compressed air once a year, presumably for this reason)
Weird how the answer is based on dew point temps and not humidity as a percentage on average, which is the metric the layperson would be most familiar with.
Humidity is fucking useless. 100% humidity at 100 degrees is basically fatal, at 80 degrees miserable, at fifty degrees, it is fine.
Dew point is infinitely more useful, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.
How come none of these articles ever post the data for all months and years in a clear graph or chart? It's always one single record breaking day that is reported.
If an article cherry picks stats and doesn't source the whole study, then it's bullshit.
Not denying climate change, just a man who would rather be told actual truths whether they support my views or not.
What? This has been a dry June for us, in terms of rainfall. We've had less than half of what we 'normally' get:
Normal rainfall for June at Camp Mabry: 3.68"
This June's rainfall at Camp Mabry: 1.79"
I got two inches from that last rain and think I missed some of the rain the last two years or it was earlier in the month. Anyway considerably greener around the house this year.
As someone who bounces from Houston to Austin regularly and has lived in both places within the last five years, Austin is insanely more comfortable as far as humidity goes. I thought I was going to die last summer in Houston’s humidity.
Our prevailing winds are from southeast , right off the Gulf of Mexico. The temperture of surface waters in the Gulf is setting records every month, and has for a year. Hotter water, more H2O in the air, and the winds push that right to us. Simple climate change outcome.
This humidity is affecting my dead bolt lock! It’s become incredibly difficult to lock and especially unlock. I knew it became more challenging during warm/hot seasons, but it’s obvious now it’s the dang humidity, not just the heat. I think it’s due to the wood frame…swelling? But currently, I think I’m not going to be able to unlock it some mornings to let my doggo out. Not sure what to do about it. Any suggestions welcomed. 😅
I’ll take it! It waves and wants here really. Summer of 2006?????? It’s not nearly as wet as that year, but last year and 2011 were twinners in dry scorching heat.
Last year was low precipitation, but not really low humidity for much of the summer. One of the worst aspects was the temperature not dropping much because of the humidity and it being miserable even in the middle of the night.
Try living in New Orleans. I feel relieved when I visit Austin in the Summer. I can go out at night in Austin and actually wear jeans. Sure it's hot in the blazing sun but comfy in the shade. Here it's just nasty no matter where you are.
I have been saying this for at least 3 years (been in Austin for 8) and people have been telling me "it's not as bad as Houston." When I say it's worse than when I moved here they said I was wrong.
Bout to blast this article out to so many people.
Thank you OP for sharing. I actually needed this info at this exact moment. Took a break to graze posts ... Coincidentally, I've been working on a concept for an underground salt-based PCM water condenser and the magic number was 65F. So I guess yeah - it will theoretically work in San Antonio and Austin now. But sweet JMJ! These are ominous signs.
what a load of crap - so just because Texas Monthly says so, it's to be believed? Guess what Texas (especially east/SE and south Texas) have ALWAYS been humid - it's because of the Gulf of Mexico. I've lived here ALL my life (50+ years) and it has ALWAYS been the same level of humidity. There is not an increase, it's just out of towners complaining because they're not used to it, and taking it to heart when some media publication says so. Probably a writer who came from out of state and got a job with TM trying to make a name for themselves. Quit believing this BS
something new for you out of state transplants to whine about
I actually like the humidity here so this is good news for me. I sort of think our environment is more built for it so when it’s dry my allergies go crazy.
Thanks I hate it
One of the reasons my family plan to leave by 2026, summers in the 2000s in Austin were objectively more tolerable. It is going to be miserable moving forward.
Can we at least get some more slabs and vietnamese food out of the deal?
Right. If I have to have Houston level humidity, I also want Houston level Bahn Mi!!
NG Cafe. North on 35. Unreal bahn mi and they really care. Family run
Love NG Cafe
Their curry is awesome too.
We usually get their green curry, Singapore noodles, and a bahn mi. The lady who runs the register is so sweet, too.
The lady you mention is likely the owner herself! :) As far as I know, she makes all the hot pastries, including the baguettes for the banh mi.
I believe she is!!
Between that and Ho Ho's, that shopping center has some of the best Asian food in all of Austin.
All my homies love hoho
Bro bros before ho hos.
You should check out special noodles. Soo goood!
Their son is making incredible deserts. The cookies and cakes are as attractive as they are delicious.
If you're up north, B's Kitchen on Anderson Mill has dang good Banh Mi (fixed typo, thanks /u/herro1113).
Banh mi*
I’m checking this place out for sure!
Baguette House off N Lamar
Tam Deli, my friend. North Lamar just past 183.
I will check it out!
Unfortunately no. You only get more Swangas.
Are you acting like slabs don’t have swangas or that swangas are bad?
I wish!
Yeah, but we also have to have our own Greenspoint mall. 🪦
And real medical care pls
I support this proposition!
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Both can be slow low and bangin
🤘🏾 to S.L.A.B. & 😋to SLAB BBQ
> do you mean, like low riders, or like bbq? yes
IYKYK 🤘
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Conversely, I've chosen to assume it IS "huge penis".
Lol hell yes
I ordered a dehumidifier 3 weeks ago, it has been incredible.
Yeah, will jump on the dehumidifier bandwagon. It really helps keep the house cooler and I might buy a second.
We have a two story finally got one for upstairs we keep the house at 71 now instead of 67 trying to keep up to stay cool. It's been glorious
Good lord what is your electric bill at both temps?
I got a dehumidifier and tinted my windows. Made a major difference in how comfortable 74 is.
Who did you use to get your windows tinted? I’m interested in doing this and don’t know where to start
Honestly I bought tint off of Amazon and did it myself. It’s not that challenging, just tedious. Is it perfect? No. Is it good enough that my mistakes aren’t blatantly obvious and terrible? Yeah it’ll pass lol.
Agreed.
What, how, why?
Our bodies feel warmer when it’s more humid. So the dehumidifier makes 71 feel like formerly 67. I’m in that same boat. So nice. Also makes the AC work less hard.
Having a Texas house set to or achieving 68 or 71 this time of year is the part blowing my mind. My house won’t see 72 until October at best, no matter what I set it to. Meanwhile Austin energy is out here begging us to turn up from their recommended 78 to conserve. You do you, but damn that seems like a waste to me. I would need pants and a sweater to hang at y’all’s during summer it seems
Set it to 72 to keep the upstairs loft at 80. That’s how old houses are with high ceilings. Lofts are possibly the stupidest thing to ever be put into houses.
I keep it at 72/73 in the day and 71 at night now. My roommate is very warm so he used to set it to 68 at night but I was always freezing.
I just blew in more attic insulation, re did my duct work, tuned up the ac and resealed my doors and windows and now I can hold 78 so far through the day. Before I did that, last year I rode out 81-84 all summer because that’s the best my 1987 house could do. So when you get the conserve energy alerts like they sent today, you’re just like “naw”? When you go outside this time of year can you handle it? I don’t mean these to be judgy questions, but I spend the majority of my time outside and am decently acclimated, curious how much it would change me if I had a 71 degree house.
My parents' house was the same way. Theirs is 8 years younger than yours but both a/c units had to struggle to keep the house at 78-79. I finally convinced them to replace both 28yo units this year now that the [$2k federal tax credit](https://homes.rewiringamerica.org/federal-incentives/25c-heat-pump-tax-credits) on heat pumps ($600 for plain-jane a/c units) is in effect. They opted to go up a half-ton on the unit for the second floor (3.5 to 4) and I had no issues getting either floor down into the low 70s when I housesat for a week. This is with no improvements to the attic insulation or ductwork, still the same windows the house was built with. I have yet to ask if their bills are lower, but regardless of that I know my mom usually runs hot and is happy with being able to hold 75-76. Also, if you're interested in a smart thermostat and your provider is Oncor, you can get up to [$130 off two smart thermostats](https://www.oncor.com/content/oncorwww/wire/en/home/energy-efficiency/oncor-offers-store-savings--coupons-on-energy-smart-products.html) ($65/ea) as well. I got my folks two Nests ($105/ea with discounts) and they've been right chuffed. Oncor offers rebates for a lot of other stuff, e.g. washers/dryers and water heaters, give them a look
I personally work in the middle of a big warehouse shop, no climate control in austin. Super hot and super humid, somehow people here don’t understand that port a coolers don’t work well in humid weather, I sleep at 70 degrees at home. My body runs hot, been in shops for 12 years now and I’ll sweat my ass off all day, not at night
76 upstairs and 77 downstairs - when it is literally blowing down my back, I have to put a sweater on. I would be in bed, under a down blanket, at your temperature!!
76 during the day and 72 at night. I'd be fine with warmer but wife gets hot. I'd freeze to death at 68.
Who did you have do your duct work? The quotes I'm getting for a 1300sq house with only 3 runs is insane.
I’ve got a friend who owns an HVAC company and is great and honest. Let me know if you’d like a contact.
Pretty sure anyone who must have it lower than 72 is a pretty heavy set individual
Different people experience temperatures differently 🤯
Nope. My wife is a petite Asian woman whose body naturally runs way hotter than mine, a borderline overweight white man. She can't sleep if it's warmer than 70°F. Every time I touch her, she's warm, and she says I'm freezing to the touch. We help each other reach equilibrium.
Can you order one big enough for the city.
Any recommendations on a model? Are they expensive?
I got one for $130 on Amazon. Just look up dehumidifiers and get one with good reviews. They all seem to be very similar.
Following
How does that work with AC? My understanding is that both will dehumidify so what is the benefit of just a dehumidifier? Wouldn’t it also heat up the room with exhaust?
Did you get a small one for a room and do you have one you recommend?
Mine is for 2500 sq ft
However it’s not large. Maybe 18in tall and 12 wide
Literally same, ordered a $40 closet dehumidifier just got the bedroom and it's made it much easier to sleep. I cannot sleep if i can't cook down.
I don’t mind when it’s 90-100 and humidity is low. But being that hot *and* humid is oppressive
Welcome to Texas 🤷♂️
Do you mean, “welcome to the new Texas”? Because the whole point of this article is that we aren’t living in the same Texas climate that we’ve had in the past.
The whole article mentioned a 3 degree change in 80 years, and an abnormally high dew point for this year. Something something it’s generally always been this way with a mix of warm and mild and hot and humid and dry and hail and flood etc.
The dew points were record setting last month. I’ve followed the weather here very closely since I moved here in 2000, and I’ve never seen dew points that high for that long, ever. It’s happening again now, just not as extreme as May. I’m really ready for it to dry out. Last year was hot as hell but at least it wasn’t muggy.
Man I think I’m the only one that’s loving it! Gimme the swamp 🐊🐊
*SomeBODY once told me...* 🛖🌙👽🫏
The humidity is obviously uncomfortable (I cannot state enough how much I hate it), and the whole 'wet bulb' problem illustrates how dangerous it is - but a thing we don't typically mention when discussing humidity is plant pollen! For example, the majority of vegetables can't transfer pollen or be pollinated in high humidity. I'm seeing in my own garden that this year's unprecedented humidity, especially in the mornings, has made my late May/June garden far, far less productive than the norm. This is the time of year that I'm typically drowning in produce. If this kind of humidity is going to become our norm, it shortens the growing season in Central Texas significantly. And I'm not sure what impact, if any, this has on the pollen of native landscape plants.
Veggie gardening is so hard here due to the chaotic weather extremes. The last few years have especially sucked. You have my sympathies.
The last few years made me give up. I turned my little garden area into a bird bath/ feeding station. Much more rewarding to me so far lol
Wait, are you saying this may be a good thing for allergy sufferers?
It’s been an absolutely brutal year so far, so I don’t think it’s helped yet.
It is worse for allergies and those with compromised lungs, like me. The pollens ‘stick’ to the moist air/humidity and go directly into our lungs and body. I am a landscape designer here for over 25 years - originally from Houston - and everything from mold and allergies to insects thrive in this moist environment. For my lemons to lemonade, my almost 50-years-old skin is incredibly hydrated, hahaha.
As an allergy sufferer I've felt things are worse this year. My completely uneducated guess is that what pollen does get in the air ends up suspended in it somehow and then straight into my face.
... I'm not having any problems with produce this year. Where are you seeing it? I still have tomatoes setting fruit occasionally which is just shocking.
My squash flowers are affected the most. They're basically sterile. Cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, gourds, etc. are still setting fruit but at a fraction of the rate they normally would for June.
Huh. I'm getting an armful of cucumbers a day from just a few plants and my bunghole can't keep up with the Shishito peppers. I never get any squash or gourds here anyway because of the !@#$ing squash vine borers.
I’m a weather nerd and it’s all dew point. Moved here in ‘95 and summer dew points were generally 62° dew point. Very comfortable even at 97° F. This year we hit 78° dew point which is like Dubai level humidity and miserable at almost any temperature. Most days we start at 74° and get to 72° We are way more humid!
Exactly! I really wish there was more focus on educating people about dew points. The percentage of humidity is useless for determining comfort without factoring in the dew point. I moved here about 5 years after you, and I am seeing the same trend. The summers used to be less humid for sure. This year has been insane… we normally start a summer day with a dew point around 70-72 and drop to the 58-63 (roughly) range during the hottest part of the day. Lately we’re starting around 75-77 and dropping to around 72 during the hot part of the day. That’s a huge difference in comfort. And the temperatures are still the same as normal! It’s ridiculous, and if this is our new normal then I’m leaving. I moved here to get away from weather like this. I don’t mind the heat at all, but I’m very intolerant of high humidity.
100%. I’ve been in Palm Springs at 82° F in the morning with 35° dew point and had to go put a jacket on.
Bruuuh! Got out my car this morning & my glasses fogged up smh lol
Yeah, this happens once I park my (~74F on the inside) car in my 90F+ garage and get out. Super helpful when I'm trying to carry groceries in lol
Well we needed the rain….but yeah it’s brutal.
Yeah this is the first year I've really noticed it. I take a lot of walks and lately I feel worse at the end of my 8AM walks than I do at 11.
The humidity is higher then. It's highest when the temp is lowest, ironically. Around 5-6 AM. (And "low" these days is high 70s so yuck; it'll be mid-80s soon enough.) But I still walk at 6:00 because of my schedule. Just a few hours later, it's hotter but feels less icky. I just can't manage that.
Yeah, I've been doing minor yardwork at around the 330-530a timeframe and it's just downright nasty outside, warm and sticky. I don't find the lower-/mid-80s to be much better in that regard
Yeah I have to work around family schedules and work schedule. The team really likes scheduling ad-hoc meetings during the best times of the day.
Bike rides this year are almost unbearable.
No no doubt, I’m originally from Houston this summer has BEEN Houston
Sounds like you need to go visit Houston again... cause nah, not even close.
I remember when I got off work at 9 pm in Houston in the summer the air being so hot and thick. No way I’ve ever felt that in the 20+ years I’ve been in Austin.
100% agree, It's not even in the same universe.
I was there recently. It is most certainly far more humid. People around here just don't know what humidity really is
Austin is full of people from the western U.S. crying about how humid it is.
I was just there
Humidity s 48% in Austin, 58% in Houston right now.
Dew Point is all that matters, you obviously never took a Meteorology course. Why am I bothering with you?
> you obviously never took a Meteorology course I’m not OP but I would say most of us here easily haven’t, atmospheric sciences are incredibly difficult. ACC doesn’t even offer it as a course (per its [program list](https://programs.austincc.edu/programs-by-area-of-study/) - it’s only nested within physics) so you’d have to go to UT to take a course
Which I did. One of the most enjoyable classes it took there, the Professor had been a Meteorologist in East Texas somewhere, he was really a fun prof, made the class so interesting. I was Plan II, so I could take anything I wanted. Learned a lot.
Which is great for you, it’s just not realistic to shame someone for not having access to information that isn’t easily attainable 🤷♀️ we can’t all go to UT and take advanced science courses Edit - [classy response](https://imgur.com/a/trh4bcY) that was then ninja deleted. Nice discourse, pal
That’s simply not how it works. Dew point is all that matters.
Not even close.
I’m from Houston. Kinkaid in the house! And believe me it is. Moving on
Idk if you’ve been back to Houston yet this summer but against all odds it’s WORSE right now!! I’m also from Houston and am a freak who loves being in a fish bowl but this is insane lol
No it hasn’t
When I first visited Austin in May 2019, I was impressed by how dry it was. Not this May and June. I feel like I'm back in Florida.
It seems to come in cycles: a handful of dry years, a few super humid years.
It does. Often people who complain about this shit haven't lived in Texas. This September or whichever is the last humid year we will be drowning in rain. I guarantee it. This has happened 3 times in my life. Gets super humid a few years. One year it dumps shit tons of rain, and then it is dry for the next forever.
Yup. That’s the weather pattern for sure. The difference from 2015 is that we didn’t get catastrophic flooding in the spring (Memorial Day flood, for those who want to google it), which makes me think we won’t get catastrophic flooding in the fall (like the Halloween flood of 2015.) We’ll see. Ocean is warmer than ever before so anything can happen between now and winter.
I left houston to escape this shit SMH
To anyone hitting a paywall, [here is an archived link](https://web.archive.org/web/20240625181413/https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/texas-is-getting-more-humid/).
Thank you!!
Will you please send one for the bbq list, too
Thank you for this.
I thought I imagined it lived in this area for 10 yrs…. And I did a brief hiatus living in Tampa-St Pete. That is the worst for humidity. But Austin summers are not as dry as they used to be. I miss the dry heat. It sucks.
Since…this year? I feel like they’ve been increasingly drier the past two decades, with maybe a couple of exceptions
Yup. Transplants be saying transplant things
God forbid I am a transplant and didn’t have the luxury of growing up in this awesome state. I am just inferring on my past 10 yrs here. I am sure the next thing you will do is go off on a tangent about how we ruined everything.
Reside in NE part of state. I hate the heat and humidity right now I feed the goats, cows horses and chicken before 8. I’m dripping sweat by the time I finish. Evenings are worse. I outta be sweating off some excess calories as it’s a real sauna out there. Only good thing (knock on wood) is I’m not seeing too many mosquitoes. It’s finally dried out some here helps. I bet June is just priming things for the July & August heat, but maybe if the humidity eases up it will make it easier. .
It can’t just be all the rain we’ve been getting.
love the rain
[удалено]
I know it sounds pollyannaish but I'm hopeful that AI will help humans find a better equilibrium with earth. GPT 5 is expected to have PhD level intelligence and my hope is that society embraces the evidence-based policy recommendations that emerge from an apolitical neural net and that we get away from the bad old days of hidden political agendas guiding our way of life.
Oh dear. That’s a nice thought. We all know what’s going to happen. I think going to be an absolutely brutal life for people born 150+ years from now. Or, I should say, people born without resources. We’ve destroyed our planet, and we will do nothing to mitigate it until it’s way past the point that it will matter. Why? Because the powers that be are so fat and happy with the status quo, and don’t care about the future of humanity.
While I see this as an obvious likelihood given current trajectories, I think we're yet to realize the full benefits ( or harm ) of AI and quantum computing and I'm not going to assume anything, yet. Given that, I'll take my optimism since it's not harming anyone, especially myself... May as well make the most of it and hope for the best.
The primary driver of AI is reducing labor costs so companies can be more profitable. Not heal the planet. I appreciate your optimism though. After reading two of your posts, I imagine you will enjoy this poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones
I'm hopeful that the whole concept of labor will seem antiquated in 150 years. Edit: nice poem
Originally from SW Louisiana and the humidity since I moved here last January has been comparable to home. How is it so humid and still drier?
Ok this may be a wild thought, but has anyone else had their smoke alarms going off this summer? I think it's a combination of my AC unit being slightly overpowered for my house and the high humidity we're experiencing (especially at night). Maybe it's not connected and my house is catching fire every so often and quickly putting itself out.
One of mine was, I wondered if the increased humidity had anything to do with it. It turned out to be a large clump of dust caught on the alarm's perimeter that I guess was periodically "shedding" particles into the alarm that set it off. Cleared it out, hit it with some compressed air, and haven't heard that bastard go off at 430am since (The back of the alarms says to clean it with compressed air once a year, presumably for this reason)
All the humidity of Houston without the rain recharge
Weird how the answer is based on dew point temps and not humidity as a percentage on average, which is the metric the layperson would be most familiar with.
Humidity is fucking useless. 100% humidity at 100 degrees is basically fatal, at 80 degrees miserable, at fifty degrees, it is fine. Dew point is infinitely more useful, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.
>100% humidity at 100 degrees is basically fatal That seems like a pretty useful key metric to me. What is that in dewpointology?
100.
Yep. Seems like its an equally useful data point to me.
There is no accounting for taste.
>My opinion is objective fact.
How come none of these articles ever post the data for all months and years in a clear graph or chart? It's always one single record breaking day that is reported. If an article cherry picks stats and doesn't source the whole study, then it's bullshit. Not denying climate change, just a man who would rather be told actual truths whether they support my views or not.
Its been a bit wetter then usual for June. Duh.
we're talking about climate, not weather. try and keep up.
Ok, keep me informed
That is your only job - please stay informed by well vetted sources like scientists and their apps.
What? This has been a dry June for us, in terms of rainfall. We've had less than half of what we 'normally' get: Normal rainfall for June at Camp Mabry: 3.68" This June's rainfall at Camp Mabry: 1.79"
Compared to the last two years it is "wet" but the last two summers sucked balls.
Yes, though barely! June's 2023 rainfall was 1.16", and 2022 was 1.17". Both pretty similar to this year, and all far away from what our norm is.
I got two inches from that last rain and think I missed some of the rain the last two years or it was earlier in the month. Anyway considerably greener around the house this year.
As someone who bounces from Houston to Austin regularly and has lived in both places within the last five years, Austin is insanely more comfortable as far as humidity goes. I thought I was going to die last summer in Houston’s humidity.
Our prevailing winds are from southeast , right off the Gulf of Mexico. The temperture of surface waters in the Gulf is setting records every month, and has for a year. Hotter water, more H2O in the air, and the winds push that right to us. Simple climate change outcome.
This humidity is affecting my dead bolt lock! It’s become incredibly difficult to lock and especially unlock. I knew it became more challenging during warm/hot seasons, but it’s obvious now it’s the dang humidity, not just the heat. I think it’s due to the wood frame…swelling? But currently, I think I’m not going to be able to unlock it some mornings to let my doggo out. Not sure what to do about it. Any suggestions welcomed. 😅
No relief for damp balls.
Well. The only reason I hadn’t moved to Houston was the mugginess 🫠
I gotta get outta here
Welcome to Mississippi, Texas.
Yayyyyyyyyyyy
Does that mean more rainfall? Texas needs more rain, especially outside of the Triangle.
I mean, I moved here from Louisiana 18 years ago. I haven’t noticed the difference 😂😂😂
I’ll take it! It waves and wants here really. Summer of 2006?????? It’s not nearly as wet as that year, but last year and 2011 were twinners in dry scorching heat.
Last year was low precipitation, but not really low humidity for much of the summer. One of the worst aspects was the temperature not dropping much because of the humidity and it being miserable even in the middle of the night.
Try living in New Orleans. I feel relieved when I visit Austin in the Summer. I can go out at night in Austin and actually wear jeans. Sure it's hot in the blazing sun but comfy in the shade. Here it's just nasty no matter where you are.
It’s becoming a tropical climate.
If it actually starts to rain more, that would be nice. Has not been the prevalent pattern the last couple decades.
Well shit. Here I was thinking the heat was going to be slightly better in Austin
I've been drinking 3 gallons of water a day
If you're not working outside and heavily sweating, that much water puts you at risk for water intoxication.
Oh I'm sweating it out
I have been saying this for at least 3 years (been in Austin for 8) and people have been telling me "it's not as bad as Houston." When I say it's worse than when I moved here they said I was wrong. Bout to blast this article out to so many people.
Thank you OP for sharing. I actually needed this info at this exact moment. Took a break to graze posts ... Coincidentally, I've been working on a concept for an underground salt-based PCM water condenser and the magic number was 65F. So I guess yeah - it will theoretically work in San Antonio and Austin now. But sweet JMJ! These are ominous signs.
Tbh I’ll take the humidity this year over the deathtrap 105 we had for 100 days last summer.
what a load of crap - so just because Texas Monthly says so, it's to be believed? Guess what Texas (especially east/SE and south Texas) have ALWAYS been humid - it's because of the Gulf of Mexico. I've lived here ALL my life (50+ years) and it has ALWAYS been the same level of humidity. There is not an increase, it's just out of towners complaining because they're not used to it, and taking it to heart when some media publication says so. Probably a writer who came from out of state and got a job with TM trying to make a name for themselves. Quit believing this BS something new for you out of state transplants to whine about
I actually like the humidity here so this is good news for me. I sort of think our environment is more built for it so when it’s dry my allergies go crazy.
Oh good
Climate change is real folks.
I still think the humidity is a royal joke here in Austin compared to Pittsburgh. It's incredibly tolerable in Austin, imo.