Does the heat wave make you want to leave Arizona? (school, moving)

[jamies]

What heat wave? It's only 72 degrees here.

Of course I'm at my beach house in Ca.

[Rangerdude_Charlie]

After having lived in Arizona and really missing it from time to time I have come to realize if I could someday own a second home in that state I most likely will. Such a beautiful state and even in the summer it can be nice. Summer really can drag on especially with no significant rain showers.

[az4me]

May sound crazy, but I'm looking forward to the heat. I'm an asthmatic and 20+ years past "over it". The humidity up here seems like it will make the dry heat down there easier to adjust to.

[Finger Laker]

I was actually back in upstate NY (including spending a night in Rochester) during this past heat wave here .... honestly, it was nice to get back here and out of the humidity - first half of the trip was overcast with frequent very light rain ... 2nd half the sun came out but no big storm to break up the humidity.

Although the max temp only got up to the low 80s it was fairly miserable. House I was staying at didn't have AC and the air was pretty still and swampy. A lot of the standing sweats that never seem to go away. I fed a whole colony of mosquitos with my ankles. The one morning I went to play golf I had a community of gnats swarm my head for 3 holes.

By the end it was starting to get to me a little and I was becomming irritable at the humidity - I just don't do well with it.

The next 6-8 weeks are the worst of it here and I can deal with it fine. The pool is still very refreshing and helps cool us off and we create shade areas in our backyard. We still get outside and do things. Plus on the upside when winter hits we have some good months.

Stinks when you come off a nasty, cold & snowy winter to get hammered with spring rain and then you get either a hot streak, humid streak, rainy streak or cold streak that eats up a good chunk of your summer weather.

The only season I really miss (and I do really miss it) is fall - fall in upstate NY is about perfection to me

[tjr1122]

As a 50 year Delaware native I can say that I been to Tucson many times over the years and as I am sitting here writing this reply the outside temp is 97 degrees and 98% humidity - this is hell. I wish I was living in Tucson at this time. Making plans to make it happen next year!

[Finger Laker]

[orphaned]
I don't worry about shoveling or driving in bad weather or having to travel in bad weather or worrying about when the ice storm would come that would knock out our power. I don't worry about if my summer plans are going to be impacted by a heat wave, cold snap or weeks of thunderstorms.

As stated, I very much miss fall. However, I really love early spring out here - maybe not as much but not that far off.

So take the marginal difference there and the benefits for having what is to me nice weather for most of the year with a convenient type of misery for part of summer (which is easily escaped by a 2-3 hour drive) definitely tilts this area for me as far as weather.

IMO, the heat wave that is currently going on back where I grew up where it's running in the 90s with 90%+ humidity would make me want to leave that area - especially since they had snow storms very late into the season this year. For me the dark, cold, snowy winter is definitely a burdon and spring is typically not much fun either. So to have one of the two seasons I enjoy become unenjoyable would be more annoying than a season I don't enjoy being even more unenjoyable than usual.

It would be like when I was living in the Twin Cities. At one point it went about 2 weeks without breaking zero. Normal temps were frequently below -20. It was cold and miserable (IMO) however really not that much more cold or miserable than the normal very cold winter temps. Now when I was married there in a church with no air conditioning and it was running mid-90s the whole week of my wedding doing thing like outdoor photos, our picnic style rehearsal dinner, etc became flat out miserable. Of course the monday after my wedding the temps kicked back down to the low 70s. To me that type of weather pattern is worse than having a hot phoenix summer get a little bit hotter.

However, as with anything weather related there is no right answer - just personal thoughts and preferences and YMMV. It's best to know and be honest with yourself though if weather would be important.

[Scottay]

Originally Posted by tjr1122

As a 50 year Delaware native I can say that I been to Tucson many times over the years and as I am sitting here writing this reply the outside temp is 97 degrees and 98% humidity - this is hell.

Actually it's been pretty muggy here the past few days. Instead of 117deg and 10% humidity it's been 100deg with 50% humidity. I'm wondering if any transplants were not expecting this sticky weather.

The forecast for Dover shows a high of 87deg with 50% humidity tomorrow so Phoenix isnt much better not to mention the fact that the Sonoran Desert heat lasts all summer as apposed to the intermittent heat that the northeast gets.

[Scottay]

Originally Posted by rvgirl52

bursts their bubble of illusion.

Yeah. I think the same could be said for San Diego. I mean, everyone knows L.A. is a toilet but people seem to think San Diego is some kind of paradise. After living here in the Valley for 20 years on and off and having been over to San Diego many many many times for weekend getaways I know better. The weather is perfect and the ocean and lush coastal vegetation is beautiful, but I think it would be a terrible place to live.

[Packard fan]

Originally Posted by Scottay

Actually it's been pretty muggy here the past few days. Instead of 117deg and 10% humidity it's been 100deg with 50% humidity. I'm wondering if any transplants were not expecting this sticky weather.

The forecast for Dover shows a high of 87deg with 50% humidity tomorrow so Phoenix isnt much better not to mention the fact that the Sonoran Desert heat lasts all summer as apposed to the intermittent heat that the northeast gets.

Uh; if you're talking about Dover, Delaware, the bad winters make it rough for many people too. Even tho once in a while Dover has a nice winter day like 60F or warmer.

[MaikeerinWA]

I was born and raised in Arizona and will always love the state. But I could never live in Arizona year-round, at least not in the Phoenix or Tucson areas. I'm posting this a little after midnight Pacific time, and my desktop weather gadget says that it is still 97 degrees - yikes.

It's absolutely hotter there than it was when I was a kid both in terms of average temps and length of the "summer." And worst of all it no longer cools off at night in Phoenix as a desert typically would, for reasons mentioned earlier in the thread.

Hopefully I will have the means to have two homes years from now when I retire - one in the desert southwest and one in northern California or the Pacific NW.

PS: Today we had a high temperature of 75 degrees in Seattle with sunny skies, and I went kayaking in the middle of the day on a beautiful lake surrounded by evergreens. Hey, I gotta brag about our too-short summer here - the gray winter will be here soon enough and I will begin planning a visit to Arizona.

Originally Posted by rvgirl52

I hate the heat in Phoenix and I regret moving here. That's not the only reason, though. It's hot for 6 months out of the year now. Used to be 3 months. You are a prisoner in your own house. You can't take walks. That drives me nuts. I can walk in the snow on a sunny day. Here it's worse than winter because you are literally trapped inside for half the year. Phoenix is so overrated. Leaving and cannot wait. I love seeing all these people from other areas wring their hands when they see negative things posted about Phoenix because it bursts their bubble of illusion. Cultural wasteland with scam artists, heat, and 6 months of hell.