h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I live near Houston, Texas, USA, about 50 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. Many people don't think of Texas as having a subtropical area, but this is one. I once had a conversation with a couple in an midwestern airport, all of us waiting for a flight, in their case to the East Coast. When I mentioned that I sailed, they asked "Where can you sail in Texas?" So I said "Galveston Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, ...", and they said, "Oh, right." On another occasion, I overheard a young girl talking to her mother as we landed in Houston. She said "They have TREES here!" As we got off the plane in the sweltering Houston summer she said, "This feels like AFRICA!"

I, too live in Houston and have always thought that the summers here are unfairly "warm". Also, I noticed that about 9 years ago (when I moved here) that there was about 20-30 minutes of rain EVERY DAY through the summer. Not so now. A real shame as it cooled the afternoons nicely.

I don't know, sometimes the short summer showers stop, the sun comes back out, and the humidity gets like a steam bath. When I visit family in Denver, a mile high and very low humidity, I lose several pounds just dehydrating. My lips crack from dryness and I get shocked every time I touch anything metal. But then I get re-saturated before I get off the plane in Houston.