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Old 01-11-2019, 03:43 PM   #81
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Default Re: Houston as it Appears to West Coast Folks?

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Before air-conditioning became commonplace, the UK Foreign Office regarded Washington DC as a tropical location.
I believe there was some extra pay for the hazard of being stationed there. Of course, there was a time where dying of malaria there was a real and present danger.

I'm not going to lie, even without malaria I'm not sure how I survived. Especially as started the day with a short drive and then spent some eight hours walking Arlington out in the sun, which was... ill advised.

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The places in the US I have visited are Boston and Portland. Those have quite acceptable climates, in winter.
Summer seems to be a time to avoid the US altogether.
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Old 01-13-2019, 11:02 PM   #82
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I believe there was some extra pay for the hazard of being stationed there. Of course, there was a time where dying of malaria there was a real and present danger.

I'm not going to lie, even without malaria I'm not sure how I survived. Especially as started the day with a short drive and then spent some eight hours walking Arlington out in the sun, which was... ill advised.


Summer seems to be a time to avoid the US altogether.
It varies. The U.S. is actually a relatively southern country, compared to Europe, and it has a continental climate over much of the interior. A lot of the problem is that several major cities are build in river bottoms or other lowlands, and tend to be very, very humid in the summer. Washington D.C. is a good example. A lot of the popular west of the Appalachians is likewise to be found in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, humidity again.
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Old 01-14-2019, 04:26 PM   #83
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It varies. The U.S. is actually a relatively southern country, compared to Europe, and it has a continental climate over much of the interior.
I'm not in the "extreme" southern US, but I'm further south than any part of Europe. I'm actually further south than Tunis.
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Old 01-15-2019, 07:36 PM   #84
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Default Re: Houston as it Appears to West Coast Folks?

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Summer seems to be a time to avoid the US altogether.
There was one time I told a(black) salesman "don't bake" as an innocuous weather comment. Unfortunately he heard it as don't BANG, which sounds like a racist remark that all black people are street thugs and I have to go out of my way to warn him not to be because he was, you know, black. I panicked a little and told him it was just about the hot weather (which was really hot). At which point he said, "This is nothing, I grew up in Texas."
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Old 01-15-2019, 07:55 PM   #85
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Default Re: Houston as it Appears to West Coast Folks?

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Summer seems to be a time to avoid the US altogether.
As a southern Californian, I find 22°C quite comfortable; we heat our apartment to 21-22°C in winter (though we tolerate down to 20°C) and cool it to that temperature in summer. Today it's been down around 12°C, and while I can go outside in shirtsleeves in that weather, I wouldn't want to stay outside for long without a jacket. When the temperature gets over 30°C I try not to go outside much; we've had days that were over 40°C.
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Old 01-23-2019, 01:51 PM   #86
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Default Re: Houston as it Appears to West Coast Folks?

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(SNIP)

Summer seems to be a time to avoid the US altogether.
Meh. It depends on where you visit. Colorado has summers that approach perfection, if for no other reason than that you can pick your own altitude for a suitable temperature range, and "high relative humidity," here, is 40 percent.

Seriously, the altitude and latitude and proximity of water (or not) makes a huge difference and we wind up with a much wider range of climates than you'll find in most places, in Europe.

You'd probably find the Pacific Northwest cool, cloudy and mild enough to suit you, and the shores of the Great Lakes are awfully nice, in the summer. The Upper Midwest, near the lakes, would have any number of Scandinavian surnames you'd immediately recognize, and those families moved there for a reason.

The mosquitoes up there approach stirge-class hazard categories, though, so take lots of Deet.

If you ever get a chance to visit Colorado in the summer, take it. Most people find it delightful. Warm days, but not too hot, low humidity, and cool nights.

The winters on the Front Range are also much milder than most of the East Coast. Storms seldom last more than a day or two and, while the snow piles high in the mountains, it melts quickly, down here.

As for winters in the South, they're about as miserable as the summers, for most people. It's cold and humid, which chills to the bone. The snow is heavy and wet, which makes it hard to get dry and stay dry. It's awful.

In the spring, it rains (and rains and rains...). The autumn, however, is beautiful.
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Old 01-23-2019, 02:32 PM   #87
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Meh. It depends on where you visit. Colorado has summers that approach perfection, if for no other reason than that you can pick your own altitude for a suitable temperature range, and "high relative humidity," here, is 40 percent.
This sort of information is useful to roleplayers. Whether a character regards the climate of his home as perfection and judges every other place by comparing it with those standards or if he hates the weather at home (probably why he left), it's a nice little detail of characterisation that helps make the character part of a setting and world.

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Seriously, the altitude and latitude and proximity of water (or not) makes a huge difference and we wind up with a much wider range of climates than you'll find in most places, in Europe.
This is very true and dramatically so, of course, when compared to Iceland. In genral, a cold winter day and a warm summer day in Iceland are unlikely to differ by more than 40 degrees Fahrenheit and a typical winter and summer day probably differ by much less.

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You'd probably find the Pacific Northwest cool, cloudy and mild enough to suit you, and the shores of the Great Lakes are awfully nice, in the summer.
Yeah, I think I'd find the climate quite tolerable there.

On the other hand, to travel to the Pacific Northwest, I'd have to cross most of the US. What would I find over there on the other side worth skipping every historic town, battlefield, restaurant and truckstops with interesting accents in between?

That's sort of a dilemma with distant travel. Sure, it would no doubt be interesting to see Twin Peaks country, but would it be more interesting than every potential destination that is closer or easier to get to?

I mean, there are still cities in the former Austrian-Hungarian Empire I haven't seen. Roman ruins from the UK to the southernmost tip of Croatia. Battlefields from dozens of wars. Vinyards and local restaurants in Spain, Italy and any number of other delightful spots.

American cities can have good restaurants, but in general, for equivalent quality European 'ethnic' cuisine as you get in a welcoming country village in the actual European country, you pay a lot more.*

Next time I visit the US, barring necessity to attend a family event in New York, I'd want to visit those Southern states I haven't seen. There is just something about everyone's accent that makes it more fun. Also, lots of Civil War battlefields, museums and interesting historical stuff to look at. And BBQ to eat.

*The US does excel when it comes to casual and mid-range options featuring decent beef, as good meat is comparatively cheap there. As a result, I try to eat steaks and other grilled meat as much as I can in the US. As a confirmed carnivore, this is no hardship for me.

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The Upper Midwest, near the lakes, would have any number of Scandinavian surnames you'd immediately recognize, and those families moved there for a reason.

The mosquitoes up there approach stirge-class hazard categories, though, so take lots of Deet.
Well, my ancestors moved away from Scandinavia a millenia ago for good reasons, one of which I must assume was the heavy concentration of insect pests unaware of the proper position of humans at the top of the food chain.

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If you ever get a chance to visit Colorado in the summer, take it. Most people find it delightful. Warm days, but not too hot, low humidity, and cool nights.
The reason I haven't probably boils down to the same as for the rest of the world. While in theory, it's always fun to see new places, any one place is unlikely to have something I want to visit badly enough to make it to the top of the list.

If I didn't have to work and had infinite money, I would visit every spot in the world (except I probably wouldn't bother to visit Denmark yet again and I might avoid areas in Scandinavia infested with midge and mosquitos). As it is, I'm still way behind on places I really, really want to visit, for one reason or another.

In practice, climate seems far less important than any number of other factors. Courts break for the summer here in Iceland, so that's when I usually take a vacation, even if both Europe and North America are far too hot for an arctic creature like me in the summer. And somehow I've never braved the long, long travel times to visit other continents, even if I might find the weather in July more congenial there.

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The winters on the Front Range are also much milder than most of the East Coast. Storms seldom last more than a day or two and, while the snow piles high in the mountains, it melts quickly, down here.

As for winters in the South, they're about as miserable as the summers, for most people. It's cold and humid, which chills to the bone. The snow is heavy and wet, which makes it hard to get dry and stay dry. It's awful.

In the spring, it rains (and rains and rains...). The autumn, however, is beautiful.
I think autumns are often my favorite time of year.

Well, actually, I have a certain fondness for heavy snow, too. We don't get that a lot, which surprises many people.
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Old 01-23-2019, 03:07 PM   #88
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Default Re: Houston as it Appears to West Coast Folks?

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As for winters in the South, they're about as miserable as the summers, for most people. It's cold and humid, which chills to the bone. The snow is heavy and wet, which makes it hard to get dry and stay dry. It's awful.

In the spring, it rains (and rains and rains...). The autumn, however, is beautiful.
Where I am, the rain peaks in August (most days with rain) and September (most total rainfall). Over the last ten years, we've had a couple of Septembers with neverending rain and last year with a hurricane that could have been arrested for loitering.
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Old 01-23-2019, 04:34 PM   #89
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Default Re: Houston as it Appears to West Coast Folks?

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What wil Alice have noticed about her new home that surprises her?


Basically, what's it like to live in Houston if you grew up in California?
Some one that grew-up in San Francisco would notice.
1. The weather, it's rare for temperatures to drop below 40F or rise above 75F and there are some people that think 75 is too hot and pretty much no one has AC in their homes. Temperatures can rise into the 90s at times. Our rainy season is late-September/October to May and often with little to no rain in between. Fog is very common and natives will often carry a jacket even on nice days because the fog will roll in around sunset.

2. Terrain, San Francisco has lots of hills and if Houston is flatter then that might be a big thing. Also many San Franciscans will walk to nearby places. Some people often measure travel times in how long it will take to get there and not by distance.

3. The ocean, the waters in and around San Francisco Bay are cold 50 or so degrees and the warmer waters of the Gulf Coast could be a welcome change.

4. The racial and ethnic mix is different it's not a big deal but it's something someone would notice.
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Old 01-23-2019, 10:12 PM   #90
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5. It's much easier to buy many types of firearms and obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm in Texas than in California, this could leave someone thinking Texans are weird or kindle an interest in firearms.
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