Austin Myth #1: It's Dry

Day: 299
High Temp: 89F

I feel like I should address a myth that is running rampant in our country. People think Texas is hot and dry.  That is only half true, at least here in Austin.  It is certainly hot.  We have already experienced triple digit highs, and for the past few weeks it has consistently been hitting ninety degrees or higher each day. However, in my experience the fall, winter and spring are every bit as wet as they were in St. Louis (and more so than in Chicago). And in the fall and spring, it is also pretty damn humid.

The hill country may be an anomaly in Texas, but it is quite green, with huge live oaks, palm trees and lots of lush lawns mixed in with the expected prickly pears, cacti and succulents. And I am not just referring to the well-kept lawns of the middle and upper class. The wild landscape all around Austin is genuinely green. It is, indeed, the last bastion of flora before you hit the desolate and barely living landscape of West Texas, the part of the state which seems to have lent the rest of us it reputation for dry, dessert-like conditions.

It is true that by the time we get to the end of the summer we will get very little rain, and likely experience a drought. It will continue to be hot, and with the lack of rain, water bans will undoubtedly be put in place. Car washes will close their doors, business that fail to turn off and drain their fountains will be ticketed in violation of the water ban, and homeowners will only be able to water their lawns once a week (and by that point, it's not enough, so you might as well just give it up and let your lawn die.) It will be hot, and it will be dry, and we will pray for rain. This happened last summer, and when it finally did rain, there was a great celebration (see pics of that first blessed rain storm here). But this hot and dry weather really only seems to last for 2-3 months maximum. Slowly, as we inch towards October, and temperatures drop back into the eighties, it will become rainy and humid once more.

Of course, I am not sure any weather is ever typical here in Austin. I have been told that the spring was much more temperate than it normally is, that normally it would be genuinely and consistently HOT as early as April. I guess my point is that, in my short experience here, the majority of the weather in Austin is marked by rain and humidity. It just doesn't seem fair for all of you to think, "Sure, it's hot in Austin, but at least it's not as humid as it is here."