The humidity in Austin, how bad is it?

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by riaelise

The best weather in Austin as far as I'm concerned is what it is now - high in the low to mid 60s, lows in the 40s. The 50s and sunny is great.

If we had six months of lower than normal temps, I'd be overjoyed.

I'd be tickled IF those six months happened to be during our summer: April thru September

[DCtoTejas]

Originally Posted by TedH71

Humid in Austin? No. Not really. Houston and east Texas is far more humid. I've lived in Austin for over 25 years.

Austin averages about 10% lower humidity than Houston, I don't consider it all that different feeling and I've lived in Austin for over 10 years and had many stays in Houston. Houston is also a huge city and I'm not sure the weather is the same in west Katy vs the Woodlands vs Clear Lake either. But I'm from the mid-atlantic originally so it's all hot to me.

Austin is at the confluence of several weather patterns which leads to highly variable weather depending on which is dominant. The only guarantee is it will be hot in the summer.

[SteveHolt]

Like was mentioned earlier, it's better to go by dew point then pure humidity. The below link shows time spent in various dew points throughout the year.

https://weatherspark.com/y/8004/Aver...gures-Humidity

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by SteveHolt

Like was mentioned earlier, it's better to go by dew point then pure humidity. The below link shows time spent in various dew points throughout the year.

https://weatherspark.com/y/8004/Aver...gures-Humidity

Interesting. Thanks for the link. It basically confirms what I feel weather-wise here.

"In Austin, the summers are hot and oppressive; the winters are short, cold, and windy; "

It is at least 'muggy' for a good chunk of the year, with La Nina making things worse.

The dominant wind direction is South, which translates into warmer, muggier weather.

Cool weather is a mere 2 months.

[SteveHolt]

Originally Posted by riaelise

Interesting. Thanks for the link. It basically confirms what I feel weather-wise here.

"In Austin, the summers are hot and oppressive; the winters are short, cold, and windy; "

It is at least 'muggy' for a good chunk of the year, with La Nina making things worse.

The dominant wind direction is South, which translates into warmer, muggier weather.

Cool weather is a mere 2 months.

Agreed. It's interesting to see people say Austin isn't too humid when >80% of the day is muggy or worse conditions (90% of the day if you include humid or worse) from June 1-Aug 31. Everyone's perception is different though.

You can also look at individual years by hour.

https://weatherspark.com/h/y/8004/20...gures-Humidity

During the 2022 summer, basically muggy or oppressive from 8PM-2PM or so the next day, then humid from 2-8.

[Trainwreck20]

It is all perception and relative to what you are used to, I guess. I personally find that the weatherspark definition of 'muggy' (dew point above 65 F) to be comfortable. Yesterday, the dew point varied from 52 to 69 (averaging 65) and it felt very nice to me. Houston was 61 to 73, averaging 70. A few degrees in the dew point can make a difference. Regarding 'relative' - compared to Houston IA comparison, Austin is notably lower year-round. The worst parts of the summer, Austin is 90% likely to be 'muggy' or worse, whereas Houston is 98% likely.

[SteveHolt]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

It is all perception and relative to what you are used to, I guess. I personally find that the weatherspark definition of 'muggy' (dew point above 65 F) to be comfortable. Yesterday, the dew point varied from 52 to 69 (averaging 65) and it felt very nice to me. Houston was 61 to 73, averaging 70. A few degrees in the dew point can make a difference. Regarding 'relative' - compared to Houston IA comparison, Austin is notably lower year-round. The worst parts of the summer, Austin is 90% likely to be 'muggy' or worse, whereas Houston is 98% likely.

Agree about the dew point differences. I run most mornings and don't feel too bad to a dew point of 65. Once you start getting into the low 70's the runs are noticeably more difficult. And then you'll get mornings with dew points of 74-75 and it's just miserable.