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Comment by usefulcat | Hacker News Reader

Bear in mind that 80F is a typical overnight low in most parts of TX during the summer, particularly in most of the heavily populated areas. Typical high temps during the summer months are mid to upper 90's or higher. Most of these same areas also have relatively high humidity, so it feels even hotter and can take quite a while for the temperature to drop even after the sun sets.

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I've never been to Texas but a Wikipedia article ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Texas ) suggests that 80F low occurs only in Galveston in July and it's more like 60s and 70s elsewhere. If a humidity is such a problem then you could run dehumidifier during the day and that would lower humidity ( in a sealed house ) overnight.

I mean these temperatures don't strike me as particularly intolerable. I wonder if it's the case of keeping up with Joneses as in "my house is cooler than yours". There are some reports ( https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/saudis-... ) that rich Arabs in Saudi Arabia are running air conditioners at temperatures that require sweaters — even when they go on vacation. Which is really amusing for these of us who come from colder climates.

Dallas native here... and a runner and weather nerd constantly monitoring for the best running conditions...

In July and August it will often stay above 90F until midnight. There’s usually a few evenings in August where it will still be 100F at 2200.

The overnight lows in the upper 70s won’t be reached until dawn, and it will be back into the upper 80s before 10.

And the breeze is a hot wind, that feels like it makes it worse rather than helping.

Interesting, I wonder how people survived before the advent of modern air conditioning. 35C/95F should be fatal at 100% humidity (as your body can no longer shed heat).

Well, something like IceBear20 ( https://www.ice-energy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ICE-BE... ) seems to be the way to go. It can run for up to 4 hours off the stored ice so it should be able to cover you from sunset to midnight.

> Interesting, I wonder how people survived before the advent of modern air conditioning.

I believe that there used to be many fewer people (absolutely and relatively) living in the southern US. Then air conditioning was invented and people realized they could get away from the sometimes brutal winters in the north without having to be miserable in the summers.

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