To survive a Houston summer, stay out of the midday sun, drink water all day, use the city's free air conditioning, and call 911 for anyone who gets confused or stops making sense in the heat. Highs in the mid to upper nineties are normal here, and the humidity makes it feel a lot worse. People who grew up elsewhere think we are exaggerating until the first July parking lot.
Run Your Day Backwards
Locals flip the day from about June through September. Trails and errands at 7 a.m. Museums and movies at 2 p.m. Patios after dark. A walk that is lovely at sunrise can be dangerous at 2 p.m., and it is the same walk.
The Best AC in the City
- The Menil Collection: free, calm and cold. See Montrose.
- The Contemporary Arts Museum: usually free, in the Museum District.
- The Downtown tunnels: miles of air-conditioned lunch on weekdays. See Downtown.
- The Cistern: underground and cool, with a ticket. See things to do.
- A movie: the longest cheap AC you can buy. See movie theaters.
- The Galleria: an ice rink indoors when it is 98 outside. See the Galleria.
The Signs to Know
This part comes straight from the National Weather Service, because nobody should be improvising it.
Heat exhaustion
Heavy sweating, weakness, cool, pale and damp skin, a fast weak pulse, muscle cramps, lightheadedness, nausea, headache, fainting. Get to a cool place, ideally real AC. Loosen clothes, use cool wet cloths or a cool bath, and take small sips of water. Get medical help if they are vomiting, if it gets worse or if it lasts over an hour.
Heat stroke
This is the emergency. Throbbing headache, confusion, slurred speech, nausea, dizziness, a temperature above 103, red hot skin that may be dry or damp, a fast strong pulse, fainting, passing out. Call 911 right away. Delay can kill. Move them somewhere cool and bring their temperature down with cool cloths or a cool bath. Do not give them fluids. A fan only helps if the heat index is below the high nineties.
The Boring Stuff That Works
- Drink water before you are thirsty, and keep drinking. Alcohol and a long afternoon outside are a bad trade.
- Anything that dulls your judgment makes heat harder to notice. Stay inside and hydrated, and never make a hot afternoon the time to find out.
- Light clothes, a real hat and sunscreen. Your head will thank you.
- Never leave a person or a pet in a parked car, not even for a quick stop. A Houston car in August is an oven.
- Check on older neighbors, especially when the power is out. That is the Houston way.
- Park in the shade, and buy the sunshade. It is not optional here.
Summer Storms and Power Outages
Afternoon pop-up storms dump water for twenty minutes and move on. Streets can flood fast, so never drive into high water. Hurricane season officially runs June 1 to November 30, and long outages after storms are a real Houston thing, which turns heat into the main danger. If the power is out, get somewhere with AC, and run any generator outside and far from doors and windows. Our Houston by season guide has the storm checklist.
The Good News
Summer nights here are underrated. Once the sun is down, a patio with a fan, a cold drink and a plate of tacos is about as good as life gets. Check who is still feeding people after midnight, or stay in and let the AC do its job.
