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I've only experienced "wet heat" a couple times in my life so this is based on my experiences. But I'm quite experienced with the dry heat.
Pros to a DRY heat:
- No sticky feeling
- Your hair doesn't get frizzy
- Tolerable summer nights.
Cons to a DRY heat:
- No sweating. Since your sweat evaporates almost the second it gets out of your skin, it rids your body of it's natural cooling system.
- Dehydration. More likely to be dehydrated in a place that barely rains. This is the ultimate con I can think of, because this can cause health issues if you don't manage it properly. I've learned that the hard way.
- The sun. The sun is your ultimate enemy in a dry heat. IMO, when I'm in the middle of summer, like now, I am on my knees begging for a cloudy day. For me, overcast make the heat feel much more tolerable. Also, sunburns and skin cancer. Shade is your best friend.
- Hot surfaces. Nothing burns quite like your foot accidentally slipping out of your flip-flop... Or your steering wheel... The pain in a dry heat for this isn't quite the same as a wet heat from my experience. If you can cook eggs on that sidewalk, you can definitely burn your foot.
Pros to a WET heat:
- In places I've been where it has a very humid and hot summer it rains usually once or twice a day. And at certain times too typically. In New Orleans it would rain at around 5 every day. And then after it was night, and that felt good too. Rain is good, very good, especially warm rain IMO. So to me wet heat was a temporary experience during the day. Dry heat in contrast, lasts as long as the sun does, which in Arizona is about 5 am to about 7:30 pm consistently.
- That is really the only pro I can think of at the moment. I probably have more but it's been a while.
Cons to a WET heat:
- The constant desire to take a shower.
- Your hair getting ruined.
- A large variety of insects, especially mosquitoes.
- Being sticky.
I guess I would rather have a dry heat. Cambodia was the worst wet heat I've ever experienced, imagine similar humidity to Florida with Phoenix temperatures... Nah. Would rather be in Phoenix. But I prefer a hybrid rather than the extremes, like monsoon season in Arizona (high 90s-low 100s + ~60% humidity vs. ~110 + 10% humidity) which is about late July-early August give or take.
The entire point of sweat is for it to evaporate, evaporation is the molecules of sweat breaking and loosing heat making it cool where it evaporates. You don't want it just sitting on you, it should be constantly evaporating to cool you down and in humid areas it cant get into the air as easily so it sits on your skin and makes you sweaty and gross.
I prefer Phoenix. The humidity just saps my energy. Also, the summer nights in Phoenix are hot but without the sun and with low humidity, it feels pleasant enough to do stuff. I just swelter in that humidity in Florida.
Tampa. Phoenix is insanely hot, and not as dry as people think. Tampa is ridiculous too, but it's much more reasonable.
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