Comparative Summers: New York City versus London

If you think that New York City has nicer weather than London, I want you to read these facts...

May 14: NYC was covered with fog.  As rain approached, it brought a repulsive 95% humidity.  

Meanwhile, London enjoyed sunny 70-degree weather with a pleasant 44% humidity. 

May 15: The day was overcast with clouds and 100% humidity, and London had a passing shower.

May 16: Humidity clung to NYC, causing lightning storms and rain for most of the day.  London had clouds and a Spring-like 66-degrees.

May 19: While London was dry, NYC suffered another "washout" cancellation of park volunteerism due to rain.

May 20: Another foggy day produced an unpredicted thunderstorm during the evening Rush Hour, as commuters hurried home.  Many people got drenched.  Unchanged for 40 years, NYC uncaringly lets its bus stops exist without shelters, so riders get wet while waiting for the often-delayed buses.  London had clear skies.

May 21: More fog enshrouded NYC, but the temperature soared to an unseasonable 87-degrees.  London had bright skies with cool air.

May 22: Leaving work, my subway train was full of riders who were hopeful to get off at their stations before an unexpected downpour occurred.  However, the train was built in 1976, and a door malfunctioned.  After 15 long minutes, the crew was unable to fix it, so they made everyone get off the train and wait on the outdoor platform for the next train.  Consequently, hundreds of passengers got wet before they finally arrived at their homes.  

May 26: I was excited to leave work two hours early.  But I had to wait 20 minutes for a delayed subway train to arrive.  While wasting my time, I read online about London's newest subway route, with trains arriving every five minutes.  

May 27: More fog covered NYC, accompanied by 97% humidity. At the same temperature, London had sunshine after 12 noon.

May 28: The holiday weekend for Memorial Day began with 95% humidity and a day that contained several spontaneous rain showers.  Just as folks started dinner preparations (many outside), the sunset was suddenly obscured by a downpour: horizontal sheets of rain!  Londoners enjoyed partial sunshine.

May 31: the day after Memorial Day was excessively hot!

The first day of June was foggy and rainy.  It was also humid!

Meanwhile, Londoners retained coolness and looked forward to another mild day with some sunshine.

June 2: More fog and a thunderstorm.  (Everyone thinks that London is full of fog, but that is untrue).  Due to rain, the first outdoor film of the season was cancelled at our local park.  In London, it was the first sunny day of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebrations (a four-day vacation for everyone in the United Kingdom).

June 3: Rain soaked NYC during the evening commute time: Rush Hour.  My coworkers complained about how many times the rain started during that time.  The downpour was so heavy that it delayed traffic, which added hassle to drivers going home.

London had another picture-perfect day with clear skies.

Thankfully, June 4 and 5 seemed equal in both cities.  Lewis and I made the most of those days!

*Last year, June 4 gave NYC a hail storm!

June 9 began with bolts of lighting and a thunderstorm during the morning commute.  But London had great weather.

Here is a video of the blustery wind storm that NYC endured to start June 10.  Turn the sound on...

Saturday June 11 suffered from sporadic downpours that rained away most people's agendas.  Lewis and I dodged them as best we could, but one deluge stranded us amongst dozens of riders who exited the subway station.  Here is Lewis' video...

June 13: Unpleasantly, the work-week started hot with 83-degrees, while Londoners savored a more seasonable 65.

June 16: NYC had another thunderstorm during the morning commute... again.

It was not predicted by weather forecasters, and that predicament reminded me of my ongoing dislike of overpaid meteorologists.  Here is my Facebook post from six years ago about the same issue.  Click on it to make it clearer.

Meanwhile, London had favorable sunshine.

June 17, both cities experienced a spike in heat, but Londoners titled theirs as a Heat Wave.

     At my local station, morning commuters and I hoped to escape a breeze-less subway platform and get aboard a train (for what little air-conditioning it had).  But the train didn't open its doors.  It sat idle for 4 minutes.  The train crew seemed to give up and merely drove away.  

June 18: Saturday restored coolness.  True, London had rain, while New York was cloudy.  But NYC's windy gusts made it too cold.  I went to a local coffeeshop that featured two jazz musicians outside.  However, the cold air made it hard for them to keep their fingers warm, and the 16-mile-per-hour windspeed blew NYC's uncleaned dust and debris into everyone eyes repeatedly.  I tried sitting in the park, but I was shivering, so I returned home and spent the day indoors.

June 21, both cities had similar temperature, but it rained on New Yorkers during their homeward commute after work (again).

June 22, the temperature in NYC was actually cooler than London, but an unpredicted rain shower got me and thousands of commuters wet as we returned home in the evening.  Making it worse, the humidity soared to 94%!  That made the atmosphere sticky and unsettling.  London had sun.

On June 24, the same thing happened.  Lewis and I went to a restaurant for dinner, but as we returned home, another unpredicted downpour got us wet.  We hid under the awning of nearby building for an extra 15 minutes, and then we hurried home when the rainfall dwindled to a drizzle.  Watch my video of it...

By the next day, June 25, heat in NYC soared to 86, while London reclined to 67.  Their "heat wave" was over.

July 4 was America's Independence Day, and NYC was just under 80 (okay to watch fireworks outside), while London hovered at 73.

On July 5, my neighbor returned from his vacation in the tropical islands of Hawaii.  Being back in putrid NYC, he complained that it was hotter and more humid than Hawaii (without the gorgeous scenery to compensate)!  

Typical of the pattern, another unpredicted rain came during the homeward commute.  (He didn't miss that in Hawaii, either).  It didn't appear on the weather.com phone-app.

July 8, reminiscent of a windy rainstorm in 2014 (and the same inaccurate weather predictions), another sudden downpour occurred during the homeward commute.  It stalled "Rush Hour" traffic and caught thousands of people unprepared without umbrellas.  They cursed their meteorologists.  Always with umbrellas, Lewis and I walked home in the rain but remained drier than our neighbors.

July 9, Londoners braced for a so-called "scorcher", but their high temperature was lower than ours in NYC.

July 10, similar heat in both places, but London was mildly high.

July 12, NYC had slightly cooler air, but it was plagued with high humidity.  People seeking rooftop breezes were reminded that they dwelled in a skyscraper cocoon.

Unsurprisingly, another rain shower appeared and centered its timing during the homeward commute.

July 14, NYC's characteristic heat cooked the city day-and-night.

July 16 - Saturday's prediction was only for 50% chance of rain at 3pm, but even as it happened at 3pm, the overpaid/inaccurate weather system failed to report the rainstorm with gusty winds that pelted the city (watch the videos).  London remained dry and sunny.

Watch these two brief videos of the heavy rainfall moving as "sheets" across the sky!...

July 18: London reached the 90s.  In NYC, Lewis prepared to attend a conference with dozens of colleagues from across the nation, but the morning commute time of their first day was doused by a torrential thunderstorm.  Watch my video of it...

By the evening, NYC's decrepit subway suffered embarrassing closures due to the rainfall.  Uncorrected since prior disasters, Uber prices soared as demand increased when the public transportation failed.  Watch this brief video...

July 19, NYC was hot, but London exceeded at 97.  At least it has plenty of green spaces, whereas Manhattan is fuming with asphalt and exhaust.

Please listen to these two brief videos...

However, by July 20, London cooled back down to the 70s, while New Yorkers (and the thousands who commuted to the city) endured 98-degree "ambient heat".

Therefore, when evening commuters stood in overheated subway stations--with sweat dripping from their faces--and experienced nonsensical delays by the incompetent subway drivers, they got angry.  Watch this video of the subway train stop prematurely for no apparent reason.  It remained halted for 10 minutes--delaying the entire line behind it--while its overpaid crew looked baffled.

July 22 - Things were unchanged.

Please see this brief video...

July 23: NYC "baked" under the sun, feeling like 97!

Miserably, NYC temperatures felt like the 90s overnight.

July 24, British media reported about their pop-star being in Manhattan and coping with triple-digit temperatures.

Instead of cooling off at night, NYC still registered hotter than Houston, Texas!  No reprieve.

July 26 - The high humidity made the air feel soupy.  Walking home from the subway, my clothes were wet from perspiration.  My shirt was marked with sweat, and my pants clung stickily to my legs as I moved.  London's micro-sized heatwave and Houston's dry heat seem better than NYC's sweltering air.

July 27 - NYC's landowning and industrial entities from the 1850s still insist that the city buy their antiquated steam-generated heat (that nobody wants).  Unused quantities bulge and buckle under the city and compels NYC to puncture its pavement for vents to release the steam throughout the year.  Below are my recent photos of some of those vents.

A side-effect causes overheated subway stations underground, but NYC doesn't care about its overheated subway riders.  Under lower temperatures, London's subway immediately installs fans in its stations to circulate airflow.  During the last 40 years, the MTA uncaringly never installed fans... except at its deepest station at 42nd Street.  Otherwise, it lets its overpaying passengers swelter in the 100-degree heat (while its officials never use the subway).  Then, riders get onto overcrowded trains that lack decent air-conditioning because they're from the 1970s.

July 28 - 

     The morning heat was made worse by the city's subway.  During the Rush Hour commute, the subway was stalled for 20 minutes, yet its website was unhelpfully oblivious and wasn't updated to warn passengers.  That is double-bad because many heartless companies in NYC do not overlook lateness to work if you cannot show an official delay from the MTA website.  

The sluggish website wasn't updated until an hour later... after the incident was over.  Meanwhile, it did show problematic delays in other areas...  

Our train sat under the hot sun (I moved away from the sunny windows) during that time because another one (also built in 1974) suffered a malfunction.  

July 30 saw NYC being ten degrees hotter than London, yet the sticky 86% humidity felt worse underground.  After carrying groceries to the subway and waiting 10 agonizing minutes for a delayed train, Lewis felt compelled to forgo the subway and pay extra for a taxi to carry him home.

August 1 - began in NYC with a foggier day than London had during the entire summer season.

Reasonably, you might expect fog to bring coolness, but in NYC, the tainted weather involved soupy 90% humidity... causing our clothes to stick to our sweat.  Summers in New York also plague homes with mildew and the moisture in the air prevents towels from drying thoroughly.  (We use a towel heater).

August 2 - Both cities shared similar temperature, but NYC suffered humidity 12% higher--relentlessly unchanged since the prior day.  By the time that the evening Rush Hour commute began, the humidity dropped but the heat-index soared to feel like 94-degrees!  Of course, the underground subway stations felt hotter than 100-degrees... yet the city didn't care: trains were delayed for easily-avoidable reasons and there were no fans to circulate the air.

Aug 3: the ambient heat felt like 87-degrees in NYC, while London had cloudy skies that blocked sunlight with 80-degrees.

Aug 4 - It felt like a searing-hot 96-degrees in NYC, with subways and pavement broiling at three-digit 100+ temperatures.  Scattered thunderstorms befell the evening commuters--again.  London rested in the low 70s.

August 5: My birthday had a reprieve of only 87-degrees (whew!) but the threat of scattered lighting storms impacted the entire evening.  London remained in the low-70s.

August 6: the day after my birthday was a Saturday, but my outdoor celebrations were hampered by air that felt like 94-degrees.  

August 7 suffered with 97-degrees and was full of sporadic downpours: heavy rainfall that occurred spontaneously and drenched picnics, pool parties, joggers, and cafe terraces.  Watch both videos below, showing separate downpours that happened two hours apart.

We expected the rain storms to alleviate the heat, but the unrelenting temperature remained at 89-degrees--even near midnight!  

August 8 - the day in NYC started by feeling like 85-degrees.  By midnight, the heat actually increased to 92!  London hovered in the low-80s.

By August 9, London declared another heatwave (and took precautions and gave comforts), yet NYC's temperatures were much hotter--equating to 104-degrees!!! and nothing was done.

August 11 - New Yorkers began their day under torrents of rain (during the morning commute), and when the sky cleared, the heat-index registered at 86-degrees.  London was dry and similar in temperature... yet its workplaces gave early dismissal, free water stations were used throughout the capital, people used (clean) outdoor swimming facilities, the subways were cooled by electric fans (and lacked the oppressive heat from outdated underground steam-heat production), and Cooling Stations were positioned throughout the urban area.

August 12 - London was actually marginally hotter than NYC.

August 13 - the phenomenon continued with NYC only rising to 80-degrees, while London simmered at 91.

August 18-20: NYC suffered at 85 to 88, while London dropped to 73.

August 22: Going to work in NYC was a rainy experience with an exasperating 89% humidity, and the homeward commute was badly-timed with another series of showers.  Meanwhile, Londoners had a cloudy-and-cool 72-degree day.

August 23: Rushing home, New Yorkers attempted to outpace the oncoming deluge (predictions erroneously said only 30% chance of rain), but it drenched the city and made it feel like an 88-degree tropical island.  Cooly, London remained unchanged.  

August 26: After a "boiling" day, NYC folks hoped for coolness, but by 10pm at night, the temperature was still at 80 degrees... and the city's ambient heat worsened things to feel like 88!  Meanwhile, London had a cool 68.

August 27, NYC's heat felt like 86 at midday, while London's high was merely 75--and it only felt like 75.

August 30 - As the month ended, NYC's hot weather relentlessly made the air feel like 85 degrees--even at 6pm.  At midnight, it finally cooled, and London was cooler by 10-degrees. 

     People make ignorant assumptions and complain about the weather in London.  Evidently, though, it's nicer than the wetter and hotter summers (and winters) in New York.  

To prove that the weather in NYC was not an isolated incident, please use this link to see my comparison of NYC to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, done two years earlier.  People presume that Dutch weather dumps more rain, but this will surprise you...

https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2020/08/comparative-summertimes.html