DigitalKoans

With an average of 51 inches of rain a year (compared to a national average of 37 inches) and a comfort index of 24 out of 100 (measures humidity, higher is better, and the US average is 44), and an average July high of 94, few people move to Houston because it has a balmy climate. After a year or so, some who do move here decide that they can’t stand the heat and humidity and leave.

I’ve never minded the Houston weather much, but this year has been exceptionally rainy, and the last couple of months there has been no need to look at the daily forecast—the forecast is rain. Rain here usually means a torrential downpour, although the long, slow drizzle is not unknown. Houstonians think of rain as those in more northerly climates think of snow. That’s because rain is associated with street flooding (and sometimes house flooding from overfull bayous), low highway exit ramps becoming mini-lakes, poor visibility, and massive highway traffic jams that spill over into adjoining surface streets creating citywide gridlock.

You adjust to the inconvenience of rain, but this year, more than once, it’s become almost pitch black in the morning or afternoon hours because the overcast is so heavy, and that’s a bit depressing.

But, I guess we should be thankful that the hurricane season has been very quiet so far (no one wants another Tropical Storm Allison or Hurricane Rita nightmare).

Massive Traffic Jam on I-45 as Houston Residents Flee Hurricane Rita

Source: AmyEmilia, This photo is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 License.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 21st, 2007 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Houston. Comments closed here. Read and add comments at http://www.digital-scholarship.org/digitalkoans/.