Obviously summer days are going to get pretty hot, but is it as uncomfortable as, say, south Florida? And is it in the nineties almost every day the first month of fall semester? My son likes what’s offered, and likes what he’s heard about the town. He’s not crazy about extreme heat, though. That being said, a look at averages gives the appearance that it isn’t that much worse than DC. Is it so bad he’s likely to wilt after a few minutes away from the AC?
It’s pretty hot in July and August; and humid. Any football game played in early September is hit or miss. I’ve been to some that are absolute scorchers, but I think they were in August. The first game this year is Sept. 5, and I think they made an intentional decision to move back the opening. A check of the last three years finds that the Sept. 5 high temperatures were in the upper 80s or very low 90s. Lows were in the mid-60s to 70. In 2011, though, the high on September 5 was 69.
Classes start Aug. 24. By Sept. 15 things start to cool a bit, with an average high of about 80 and an overnight low in the low 60s or below. So really you are looking at a hot and miserable two or three weeks. I hate the heat and I live through it; everything is air conditioned.
A quick look at South Florida temperatures show that Florida is a few degrees hotter each day with a low 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the Oxford low. I also checked the Washington DC weather history and for the early September dates I checked it was either the same or hotter than Oxford. Not sure why it would be hotter, though. Here’s the link to historical weather data:
http://weather.org/weatherorg_records_and_averages.htm
One more tip. If you get overheated at a football game you can go to a first aid station and get a Ziploc type bag full of ice to put on your head. As a student I beat them to the punch and just brought a couple of my own, and it stayed cold for the better part of the game. You can’t know how many people begged me to borrow my ice bag for just a few seconds.
Also, back in my day Ole Miss didn’t have lights. Today they do, and night games are not uncommon. If the game is at night the heat won’t be any problem.
@mstomper If this year’s weather is any indication, I don’t know what we’re in for over the spring/summer months. Oxford has seen extreme lows in temperature as well as snow/sleet that caused the university to close twice in two weeks time (end of February and early March!). We’re in Mississippi so our summer are hot, but you are correct, it’s not much different than DC. I spend time in DC during the summer, and it’s quite warm there as well. If he does enroll, make sure to pack carefully for freshman orientation. All of those sessions are in June!!
Oldest son isn’t a football fan, so I’m not sure he’ll go to many games. He’ll probably sit through a lot of those cold late winter baseball games though.
Ok, I’m used to hot & humid as I come from south Texas, how are the fall & winter seasons? Do you have all 4 seasons? In south Texas we have hot & hotter.
My parents are from Port Arthur where the humidity is like New Orleans. Oxford is not like that. The university did have 3 snow days this year after 4 inches fell this winter.
Early part of fall can be hot and humid. I think there were some ice days this year. Back in the 80s (yeah, showing my age), we were lucky to get snow. It was gone in a day.
My Michigander daughter survived last July for Summer College. It is hot and humid, but the air conditioning is amazing. She spent far more time outside than she does at home. Do not fear.