Where is less humid for summer?

[Wicksey]

We've already had a bit of a chat on here about this I think over the years, but I'm coming to the conclusion that it is more humid here on the coast than inland in the summer. It seems to be the humidity we find so suffocating in the summer months, and after spending much of July in Granada area this year, we found it hot, but much more bearable otherwise. Also there were few biting insects, which we are plagued with here. We can barely step foot outside in the garden when it is hot here, we're being constantly bitten by mosqitos, flies and other tiny midge-like insects.

We and our cats had a lovely holiday in the Alpujarras but a big dilema for us is that we dislike twisty mountain roads. We didn't go out much and never explored further afield than Orgiva as we just don't like that type of driving.

So ..... where inland is less humid but not up a mountain road? We want to drive no more than 3 hours and areas we've liked in the past like around Cazorla/Ubeda, and around Jaen are doable, but not sure about the humidity. We've never been to Huelva but I remember seeing how high the temperatures are there in the summer, and it seems that anywhere low lying around the major river valleys like the Guadalquivir are to be avoided. I very much like Extremadura (over the border I know) but we've only been there in springtime. I'm sure someone here is in Linares which would have access to some interesting places to visit and seems to be on a trainline too ..... any suggestions or recommendation are welcome

[Enrique]

Hi Wicksay,

Anywhere 'up' (Jaén) here is good in the summer ........ maybe 10- 15c warmer than the coastal areas but humidity is 10-15% RH

Cooler in the Winter........... had our first ground frost overnight 2.5c this morning ...........

[Wicksey]

Thank you Enrique. Is that a total humidity reading of only 10-15% in the summer ..... if so, incredibly low. I don't think we'll be doing any big house moving this coming year, so will still want to escape to somewhere different for the summer.

[El Cid]

10% would probably be in the middle of the day in summer. We have seen 10% down here on the coast, but that's pretty rare. In Granada, it is often that low. If you want to see the actual data, then www.wunderground.com is the place to go. You can select from thousands of locations and if you scroll down to "Weather History" you can see all the data, by day or by month.

Sid

[Wicksey]

Thanks Sid, that's a brilliant site. So much information.

[El Cid]

Yes, it's an amazing resource. It relies mainly on individuals (like me) who have a decent weather station at their location, which is registered with Wunderground and connected to the Internet. These stations are not expensive; €150 will buy you a good one. They usually measure all the normal weather parameters, and all that information is automatically sent to Wunderground every few minutes. If you go to the link I gave you, you can see a map of all these stations and select one just down the road from you!

There is also an app called PWS Monitor which you can load with any number of these locations and see all their current (or last 7 days) of data in an easily readable form. I have about 20 of these locations around the world that I am interested in. You really (and any other forum members) should try it.

Sid

[Enrique]

Hi,

Sounds like a great project ............. Weather Station , thanks for the info Sid.

What is the Model you have and how is it standing up to the Sun ? I had a "local" one setup but the sun killed off the Plastic wind vanes.

Would be interesting to know which other Projects Members have on the go, ( New Thread ?) I've two sites that feed data to FlightRadar24 for tracking Aircraft.

[El Cid]

My weather station is a Bresser.
https://www.bresser.es/p/bresser-centro ... fi-7002580
I've had it about 3 years and have not had any problems. At the price, they are not exactly industrial spec. A high quality station like Davis can cost well into 4 figures. I had my first station in 2000. The Bresser is my third.

Sid

[Lavanda]

Extremadura can be intensely hot for between six to ten weeks a year. It can be freezing enough for snow to lie on the Sierra de Gredos for up to six months. It can rain like crazy resulting in local floods. It’s a huge place with many micro climates. However, as far as I know, it is never humid other than when it rains.

[El Cid]

Humidity is usually only noticeable when the temperature is high or low. When it's cold, high humidity leads to heavy dew and mist/fog. When it's hot, it can get very uncomfortable because sweat does not evaporate as fast, which means that your body's natural cooling mechanism does not work as effectively, so you feel hotter. Simply put, with heat and high humidity, it's like being in a sauna. With heat and low humidity, it's more like being in front of a fan heater. Most weather sites quote "feel like" temperatures which describe it very well.

Sid

[Lavanda]

There’s lots of things we can do to control body functions but I would love a pill to increase my body’s natural cooling mechanism in the summer as it’s never as effective as I would like.

[Wicksey]

That is the problem with the humidity in the summer, is that the body cannot cool itself so well as sweat does not evaporate. It makes us feel quite ill, although we do drink rehydration and isotonic drinks to help replace salts, and drink loads of water. I have hypothyoidism which also means my body doesn't seem to cope with changes in temperature. It's 10 degrees outside and I am freezing at the moment (it was 25 on Saturday!).

Problem now is that I cannot find suitable acommodation for the summer. We may go back to the house we rented in July but it's even smaller than ours so a bit of a squeeze for us and the cats. There's plenty of rental properties that take animals, but some aren't fenced, or when you read the details you find the owners live upstairs, or live in the grounds with a dog than runs free, or it's on a busy road, or it's 30 minutes drive on mountain roads to the nearest shop etc etc .... drives me nuts a bit. So we're still considering everything.

[chrissiehope]

Antequera area is quite nice - up a bit so hilly-ish. Our casa was about 10 mins from there, and we generally had a breeze of some sort - the wind turbines on the hills behind us are a bit of a giveaway !

[Wicksey]

We like Antequera and have been there a few times. It's quite flat too which is good but we've decided on Ubeda now. There's a lot of places to visit around there and we haven't been that way for over 20 years, so it will be good to go back.

[olive]

What is public transport like from to Ubeda and to an airport.

We too like the place but thought it might be too remote

Antequera has a railway station and a new one. Both handy for the town.

[chrissiehope]

The station is a bit out of the way, or at least it was when we visited a few years ago, it may have improved links since then. But without transport I wouldn't say it was handy for the town

[Wicksey]

What is public transport like from to Ubeda and to an airport.

We too like the place but thought it might be too remote

Antequera has a railway station and a new one. Both handy for the town.

The two nearest stations look like they're in the middle of nowhere. I did spot a holiday house near one of them but when checking the trains they were pretty infrequent. Antequera is definitely better connected, and not that far from Malaga and the airport now there's the toll road. Ubeda is 1.5 hours from Granada airport, 2.5 from Malaga so too far out of the way really if you're going to want to fly (or go anywhere much come to that).

Just happened to spot the house we are renting for the summer has come onto the market in the past week It's taken ages to find that, so if it sells we'll be left high and dry. I've looked again but there's nothing suitable for us as we have fairly fussy needs .

[olive]

The station is a bit out of the way, or at least it was when we visited a few years ago, it may have improved links since then. But without transport I wouldn't say it was handy for the town

Buses or taxis?

[chrissiehope]

There were a few taxis, but as I said, it was quite a few years ago, so they may have made some changes by now. There may be a website with more info....