Summer in Miami: Can You Hack It?

Great article, I laughed as I read it and recognised many true aspects of life in Miami in summer.  I feel like a real local now as I do love the rain and getting caught in it on my bike. Not missing the beach either. But tell me, is that first photo for real…?

Posted on 06/02/2009 at 5:41 PM

Yeah, a tornado touched down here in mid 1997. I remember it vividly since it was a week prior to me moving here. But I still came, and here I am, twelve years down the line. I guess I qualify since I’ve put up with many a sweltering summer already. After passing year ten I also figure I can curse at people who call themselves locals after only being in-country for two years.

Posted on 06/02/2009 at 11:21 PM

Great points, Matt! Real locals adapt. IE, I go into vampire mode during the summer, preferring to stay indoors until late afternoon/early evening, way past prime cancer hours ... if I can help it. And I also keep a rain poncho with a hood, instead of an umbrella.

Other great things about summer: cheaper hotel rates and discounts all around, Miami Spice, mango season!

Jess, that photo looks a bit doctored, but as pod says, we did indeed have a tornado/water spout by Brickell and the bay.  I just don’t remember it being so dramatic! However, water spouts are not unheard of this time of year.  If you see dark clouds over the ocean you can check to see if one is brewing.

Posted on 06/03/2009 at 1:25 PM

Next you’ll say that you don’t enjoy living (squatting) in an under-construction fraternity house with no a/c or cable from June-August.  That being said, I also enjoy the summer more than any of the other “seasons” in South Florida.  I don’t buy into the notion that they are unbearable as anybody that has spent time in a landlocked concrete jungle city on the eastern seaboard will tell you that 93 with high humidity but also with an ocean breeze and lots of rain is much much preferable to sweating half of your body weight away as you try to walk anywhere in Washington D.C. or Charlotte in July.  Nobody that lives south of Orlando is ever economical about a/c use either.  I also enjoy the fact that those of us trying to achieve supertans can sit on the beach even with heavy pending thunderstorms darkening the sky and still enjoy high UV rates (if you’re afraid of the sun then is South Florida really for you?).  The bath water ocean temps are also much preferable than water temps in the low 70’s/high 60’s that cause minor heart attacks upon entrance that last through June in the northeast.  Now with all THAT being said, people still can’t drive here if it is so much as sprinkling.

Posted on 06/04/2009 at 11:06 AM

My alternate headline was “Summer in Miami: Things are About to Get Real Miserable.”

Posted on 06/04/2009 at 11:23 AM

Another test of a true Miamian, getting into your car after it has been baking in the sun.  This is true of everywhere with high temps, of course.

Aaron you are right.  I’ve been to NYC in the summer and it is absolutely gross.  I mean I was literally covered in some kind of weird goo every time I walked around and my nails got dirty.  Not pleasant.  It’s much better to be here with the ocean breezes and cleansing rains.

Posted on 06/04/2009 at 11:23 AM

Exactly, Maria.  That goo was the collective angst of New Yorkers realizing their entire city smells like a Saturday/Sunday morning alley between Collins and Washington. 

Matt, I challenge you to put that summer in words that would even remotely do it justice.  It probably would end up being one of those “You don’t and can’t understand because you weren’t there” situations.

Posted on 06/04/2009 at 11:36 AM

After spending a week in Orlando in June, I will never complain about the summers in Miami.

Posted on 06/04/2009 at 3:24 PM

After spending a week in Orlando, you can’t really complain about anywhere.

Posted on 06/04/2009 at 6:43 PM