Accessories in Texas
93 days above 90°F, 21 above 100°F, 17 freezing days — and a genuine style culture of its own.
a short winter, 17 freezing days, 93 days above 90°F. Measured at Dallas, 5 years of daily observations.
Dallas runs ninety-three days above 90°F and twenty-one above 100°F, with only seventeen freezing days and an inch and a half of snow. Texas is a heat state with a winter that is mostly a rumour, and it is also the state with the most fully-formed native accessory culture in the country.
That culture is worth taking seriously rather than treating as a trend. Tooled leather belts, real cowboy hats, turquoise and silver, and a proper boot are everyday items here, not costume, and the local standard for what looks authentic is high. Anyone buying into the western trend from outside should know that a Texas eye reads a printed "tooled-look" belt or a shapeless uncreased hat instantly. If you are going to do it here, do it properly or do something else.
On the hat specifically: straw from spring through summer, felt in winter, is a real convention and breaking it is noticed. In a state with ninety-three days above 90°F, straw is also simply the correct material for most of the year.
Sixty-one percent summer humidity in Dallas is dry — Houston is a completely different, far more humid proposition — so the material advice here does not transfer across the state.
Twenty-one days above 100°F puts Texas firmly in metal-is-uncomfortable territory, and the interiors of cars here reach temperatures that damage plastic sunglass frames left on a dashboard.
What national advice gets wrong here
Treating western as a trend to try. In Texas it is a living style with real standards, and the national version — printed tooling, uncreased crowns, novelty turquoise — reads immediately as an outsider's costume.
Metal gets genuinely too hot to wear
21 days a year reach 100°F here. A wide metal cuff or a heavy chain sitting in direct sun stops being jewellery and starts being a burn risk — this is the one climate where light beads, fabric and resin beat metal on comfort rather than on looks.
Worth owning here
| A properly creased hat | Straw in summer, felt in winter, and the crease is noticed. |
|---|---|
| Real tooled leather | Printed "tooled-look" is spotted instantly here. |
| Nothing left on a dashboard | Twenty-one days above 100°F warps frames. |
The numbers
| January low – high | 39°F – 57°F |
|---|---|
| July average high | 95°F |
| Freezing days a year | 17 |
| Days at 90°F or above | 93 |
| Annual snowfall | 1.5" |
| Annual rainfall | 55.4" over 108 wet days |
| Summer humidity | 61% |
| Bright sunshine | 9.3 hours a day |
