question for Alabamans (is that what you call them?)
 

I'm moving to Tuscaloosa in September, and I'm a bit worried about the weather- exactly how miserably hot am I going to be? Today it's a beautiful southern Massachusetts day, with clear skies and the sun shining, and it's 70 degrees in the sun.

What should I be planning for?

Alabamian is the correct term.

I live in hell...er, Tuscaloosa. It's hot as BALLS and humid as the tropics. Today it's in the mid 90s and high humidity (80% or higher). You are in for quite a shock, my dear. You are welcome to PM me w/ any questions.

I go to school in Auburn and swissmiss is very much correct. Nice and HOT!

I was just watching the news and they said the heat index here is 98 degrees! And it's 5:30 in the evening!

i used to live in Mobile.....ah, how i miss it......however, the biggest thing to watch out for is the random rain.....you'll be under the impression that you can breathe a sigh of relief as the rain should cool everything down. however, it does the opposite.....it makes it even MORE humid.

other than that, it's fabulous. yeah, it's HOT, but it's still fabulous! :D

Alabamian in my heart!

so I'm trading -20 degree winters for 100 degree summers......I'm not sure that's an improvement, but oh well.

Tuscaloosa is a pretty nice town, though. I would have to agree with the rain comment made earlier, though. When it rains in the summer, fall or spring, rather than cooling off, it turns into a steam cooker.

T-town is a lovely place, though :)

For the summer--just pretend like you're packing for the jungle! :p

Not really, but it does get hot here. There are 3 seasons in Alabama--hot, cold, and rainy. The rainy season runs from about March/April to September/October. There are 2 weeks of Spring in late March, then it's blazing hot. In October, there are 2 weeks of Fall, and then it's freezing cold. And so on....

Okay, I realize that wasn't very encouraging! It's not as bad as I make it out to be, although it does stay hot and sticky most of the summer (and spring, and fall). I just figure since I've lived here for the past 20 years, I have a right to complain about it!

I hope your move is a good one. :)

Alabama in July and August is like a sauna, hot and humid. You can usually wear shorts from May through September. It really does not get very cold until early February. And then the high tempture is only in the low 40s or so.

Don't you mean a steam room? I think "sauna" would be an improvement because at least it's dry. :) And I've found (well down here in Central/South AL) that you can wear shorts March-October/November. Of course then there's the freak heat waves when people are taking their pre-Christmas exams wearing shorts and birkenstocks. And when even an inch of snow comes...oh lord. You'd think the rapture had come or something. Everything closes and people freak out. You as a Yankee transplant will find this most amusing. Beware of rednecks in pickup trucks with their kids in tow on a sled!! :rolleyes:

I know this has nothing to do with the original post, but the comment about rednecks in pickup trucks made me think of it.

You know that email that always gets passed around about the Yankees moving to the South? There's a joke in there that says something to the effect of "If you drive your car off into a ditch, just sit and wait. Within five minutes, a truckful of rednecks with logging chains will be along shortly. Don't disturb them, because this is what they live for." If you think this an exaggeration, just try it! I have some extreme rednecks in my family--namely my first cousin--and he has several tow chains of varying sizes in the back of his super-four-wheel drive pickup truck with those huge "mud ridin'" tires expressly for this reason. It's kind of sad, actually. :cool:

That particular behavior is not uniquely Southern- I have friends up here who do exactly the same thing. The only difference is that Northern rednecks also have snowplows attached to their trucks, so that they can "make extra money clearing driveways", and also spend the day driving around town drinking with their friends, avoiding their wives.

The REALLY sad part is, I'd be one of them, but my truck isn't rated for a snowplow. :cool:

Keep in mind the fact that unless you are outside, you will be in buildings that are air conditioned. Air conditioning is much more popular in the south than in New England.

I haven't been to Alabama, but one of my best friends had to move from Detroit to Dallas and she said this: "It's not really that different. Either way, you have 3 months of the year where it's miserable to be outside. The pain is, the 3 months of the year in Texas when you can't send the kids outside to play are the 3 months that they aren't in school!"

Dunno if that helps or not.

Dee