Same for the most part. I don't like the 2-3 weeks every summer of hot/humid in the northeast and despite the tired cliché ("but it's a dry heat!") that people love to repeat in the western U.S., it doesn't matter to me how dry it is once the temp gets above 95F/35C. Knowing this, a friend who lives in Tucson gave me a useful trivet:
More like 2-3 months in NJ, though I’m sure less in New England. And if you look up heat discomfort index, that 95F in the Arizona desert is the same as 85F at 65% humidity (routine on the East Coast) or 83F at 80% (not uncommon).I've lived in New England most of my life; I would say that in the "old days - the 60's and 70's and possibly the 80's too), we used to have, maybe 5 to 15 days of hot, humid weather (ambient temperatures over 90 degrees with dew points above 70); but it seem like in the recent decades (last 15 to 20 years or so), we now get anywhere from 10 to 25 days a Summer with the hot, humid days. I remember, again in the old days, people would say that you didn't need central A/C in your house (and very few houses in New England had it, even newer, more expensive houses); now, almost everyone building new houses have central A/C built in and even people with older houses have retrofitted them with either central A/C or mini-splits. It's become almost a necessity, if you want relative comfort during the Summer months.
^^ More performative drama queenery from westerners. 2-3 weeks of hot/humid every summer is accurate.
Yea, at least in New England, I'd stand by my estimate of 10 to 25 hot, humid days, as a rough estimate.
28.7 days is the average number of muggy days in Springfield, MA (guessing that's a good surrogate for berkshireskier's location) per Weatherspark, which has a graph and average number of muggy days per month listed below it.
It's accurate for Burlington, VT, 16.9 days.
D.C averages 67.6 muggy days.
Thanks, Tony, for that info about Springfield. Yea, I live about 50 miles west of Springfield and but at a higher elevation (Springfield is 70' above sea level and I'm at about 900' above sea level); we're probably slightly cooler than Springfield. What is the definition of "muggy" that you are using? In my mind, days where the temps are above 90 degrees and the humidity dewpoint is above 70 would be classified as "muggy" or "hot and humid" (although an 88 degree day with high humidity can also be very unpleasant).28.7 days is the average number of muggy days in Springfield, MA (guessing that's a good surrogate for berkshireskier's location) per Weatherspark, which has a graph and average number of muggy days per month listed below it.
It's accurate for Burlington, VT, 16.9 days.
But NYC averages 46.0 muggy days and Trenton, NJ 48.2 days. So, I overestimated by about as many days as James underestimated.
D.C averages 67.6 muggy days.
My 2020 summer abode near Clearwater, FL averages 215.2 muggy days, and even 4 days in January!
Weatherspark does not define it explicitly. But we have covered some of this ground before.
Here's another chart bringing dewpoint into the picture.
That's borderline "very uncomfortable" in the second chart and heat index 97F in the first one.
This is another red flag on humidity for me. The A/C in my house has been on one day for about 3 hours so far this year. Opening windows at night and closing them during the day is very effective when the nights cool off significantly, and those average low temps 68/69 in NY/NJ are marginal in that regard. July-September here I'd guess we use the A/C 1/4 to 1/3 of days and only for 3-6 hours a day. A/C needs to run all night maybe 5 days a year max.
In the face of ongoing anti-East Coast sentiment, I''ll happily trade a few weeks of unpleasant heat and humidity against six months of the year during which there's a significant and growing danger that a large portion of my city will burn down. You can have it.
I asked a similar question about a weather thread that has 2017 or 19 in it and Tony said no, we shouldn't change it.
I’m lazy, I just relabeled this one.
