July marks the start of the sweltering hot days in Texas. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any hotter, the temperature rises yet again. You could hide in the shade or under the water like a wimp, or you can toughen up and EMBRACE THE HEAT. Grab a few Gatorades and prepare for a sweaty good time at these 5 hottest cities, activities and spots that Texas has to offer. Warning: It’s about to get REAL HOT.
The Cities with Record-Breaking Temperatures
Looking for a weekend getaway? Perhaps you’d like to head to the spots where the hottest temperatures in Texas were ever recorded. It’s a tie between Seymour and Monahans, TX, for hottest temperatures ever recorded — both have hit a blazing heat of 120 degrees! So instead of surfing the cool, refreshing waves of a Texas beach, slide down the sandy waves of the Monahans Sandhills State Park for a truly scorching experience.
Sweat Lodge
If you really want to feel the burn, head to a Sweat Lodge. These lodges, like the one at Thunder Ranch in West Point, TX, is part of an ancient, deeply spiritual Native American ritual. They believe that this practice of sweating helps purify the mind, body and soul. The covered lodge is heated to a blistering 100 degrees using hot rocks and steam as up to 20 participants sit in the small space, either meditating in silence or participating in ceremonial chanting.
The Sweatiest City in Texas
Would you rather explore a sizzling metropolis? Then head to Space City. That’s right, Houston was declared the 3rd “Sweatiest City” in America after a 2015 study by the Honeywell Fans and Environmental Health & Engineering compared summer temperatures, humidity levels, wind speed and population density to see which cities produced the sweatiest situations.
Hot Yoga
Picture by Pure Yoga Austin
Pure Yoga Texas’s Bikram method hot yoga class will have you panting during your Downward Dog… The yoga class features a 26-posture yoga sequence done over a 90 minute session — but there’s a catch — the room is heated to 105 degrees for the entire session. It’s so hot that the yoga studio suggests that first timers count just staying in the burning room for the entire 90-minutes as a victory. I’m sweating buckets just thinking about it…
Hot Springs
Photo by Todd Dwyer (CC BY-SA 2.0)
If you must make a splash, then I suggest one of the Texas Hot Springs, which folks have been traveling to wade into for centuries because of their supposed “healing powers.” At Big Bend National Park, you can take a steamy dive into the Langford Hot Springs which is a boiling 105 degrees year round, and if you like it even hotter, then jump into the Chinati Hot Springs which is 110 degrees! Sure, it won’t have quite the same refreshing effect of diving into a cold swimming hole, but it’s soothing all the same.
