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Comment by zerocrates | Hacker News Reader

A whole section of this article is people discovering that yes, it gets hot in Texas.

Knowing about a phenomenon and experiencing for oneself are sometimes two different things. The article also cites record-high temperatures which presumably they didn't have foreknowledge of if they've never happened before.

So, tech workers paid >200k couldn't anticipate that hot places are going to get a lot hotter due to global warming and all the trends we've been observing over the last decade or so? Interesting.

To repeat the comment you are replying to:

Knowing something and experiencing it are two different things.

Everyone moving there knows it gets hot. But if you've never experienced 100F heat - especially not days in a row - you have little to compare it to. Theoretical knowledge compared to applied knowledge. Heck, even if you have experienced it, you probably did it in completely different conditions. For example, the Midwest gets hot sometimes, but that heat is different and lasts shorter times than it tends to in Austin. (Which is also the reason folks moving from Arizona to Indiana get shocked at the heat + humidity combination or why 80F near the arctic feels warmer than it does in some other places)

what does the >200k but in your rhetorical question serve, as a purpose?

This is rhetorical ofc because I have interpreted to be a baseless attack on the tech laborforce because of their above mean income.

It's surprising to see 'smart' people move towards the equator when we know Climate Change will push the extremes in temperature.

Smart people can be in denial about the climate. I know one nuclear physicist who still doesn’t believe in climate change. (And so is pushing for the adoption proof-of-work crypto.)

Not really. They're just like everyone else who isn't racing for Yellowknife.

I hadn't realized when I composed this that Yellowknife's entire population was recently evacuated because of wildfires, which I guess is the other issue with being "smart:" easier said than done.

Not today, tomorrow or in 10 years

Here [1] is a site with a bunch of various weather records for Austin. Assuming the climate is warming then, on average, literally every month should be the hottest month ever recorded. But it doesn't mean it's some night and day difference where suddenly temperatures just spike in ways never before seen.

Austin has long historic temperature ranges well above 100. The highest temperature (112) was recorded in 2000. It gets really hot. The record for the number of days > 100F was set in 2011, at 74. It also gets really cold. The record for the most number of freezing days was also recently set in 2022, with 51.

[1] - https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/austin

So? Tech workers commute from their air-conditioned houses in their air-conditioned cars to their air-conditioned offices, then shop in air-conditioned stores--then back to their air-conditioned houses. So they only need to spend a small amount of time in the heat.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com