If Phoenix is that hot, why do so many move there? (Miami: house, allergies)

[TootsieWootsie]

This is not meant to be sarcastic at all, but a real question: If it is so gawdawful hot there--and I really have never been there but am interested--why do so many move there? It seems folks there are stuck in the air conditioning for 4-5 months of the year. Can someone clarify this for me?
I'm seriously looking to move there because there are so many baby boomers there, but people in the Midwest keep telling me how hot it is there and that I will not like it.
The Phoenix region surely has to be better for my allergies than Houston was where I had cold-like symptoms way more than I ever should have had.
But, if people are getting stuck living in their homes for 4-5 months of the year due to the heat, that's just like living in Chicago where folks get stuck in the house for 4-5 months of the year due to the chilling cold. Dang!

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

This is not meant to be sarcastic at all, but a real question: If it is so gawdawful hot there--and I really have never been there but am interested--why do so many move there? It seems folks there are stuck in the air conditioning for 4-5 months of the year. Can someone clarify this for me?
I'm seriously looking to move there because there are so many baby boomers there, but people in the Midwest keep telling me how hot it is there and that I will not like it.
The Phoenix region surely has to be better for my allergies than Houston was where I had cold-like symptoms way more than I ever should have had.
But, if people are getting stuck living in their homes for 4-5 months of the year due to the heat, that's just like living in Chicago where folks get stuck in the house for 4-5 months of the year due to the chilling cold. Dang!

Because the heat does not stop you from going out like the cold and snow does. You can always go outside anytime of the year unlike the midwest.

[AZM]

It was once a nice place to be all because it was not Los Angeles, that has changed with all the traffic, illigals and druggies

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by las vegas drunk

Because the heat does not stop you from going out like the cold and snow does. You can always go outside anytime of the year unlike the midwest.

I would agree with this. You don't need to do anything special to go out in the heat - no jacket, no window scraping, no shoveling the driveway. It is sunny all the time not depressing gray and windy so your mood is better. People go to the lakes, have pool parties at night, play golf, softball leagues - I played in a volleyball league for years in the summer - night games. Sure it would be nice if it were moderate temps all year, but there are few places like that in the world. To my thinking, a sunny hot summer beats a cold dreary winter as the downside of an annual weather pattern. Obviously not everyone agrees and some who come find getting through the desert summer worse than the midwest winter.

BTW, the heat is nothing like the swamps of Houston. It's much more bearable. As for allergies, it's a guess. If you have mold and dust mite allergies they will improve here, but there are enough other things around that you probably won't get real relief. People who are allergic manage to find something to react to just about anywhere they live.

[SoldierBoyBliss]

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

If Phoenix is that hot, why do so many move there?

Because Phoenix is that cool.

[locolobo13]

Easy! You CAN acclimatize to the heat. You will want to do that slowly. Drink plenty of fluids, expose yourself to short periods of sun at first. But it can be done. OR, as many do you can stay inside in a nice AC conditioned environment.

I ride my bicycle to work here year round. It's not too far though so I'm only outside for about an hour a day, 15-30 min at a time. Summer nights are great here, especially if you go waaayyy out in the desert.

Another consideration is the humidity. In the midwestern summers your humidity probably approaches 80-99%. My Dad and I went to visit friends in rural Ark. in July '05. The temps were in the high 80s, the humidity in the 90%+ range. Walking outside was exhausting. I couldn't wait to get back to Phoenix where the temps were 110, but the humidity was nil.

Last thing, winter! Inside the great concrete heat sink it rarely freezes anymore. Even out in the desert freezes are rare, temps rising back above freezing with the sun.

[TootsieWootsie]

What many don't realize is that the lack of sun causes aches and pains in your joints--especially as you age, so you end up taking 5,000 mg. of vitamin D all the time to counteract that. No vitamin D in your system you really ache and it's real, too. I saw that as one upside to living in a sunny climate. Just an small comment.

But everyone here where I am keeps saying it's so HOT in Phoenix and that the heat just killed them, etc.
They do have me concerned...

[daniboi81]

I'm visiting Phoenix for my first time next week and am looking forward to the heat...albeit it's not in the middle of the summer. I think the heat is based on one's own tolerance level and also how they can adapt to a different climate. Look at all those folks who move down to Florida...it's hot and humid down there in the summer and they eventually adapt to where they think 70 degrees requires a parka...LOL

[Jucaam]

The mornings in the Summer months are tolerable. It is a dry heat, like a hair dryer blowing on you when there is a slight wind. It starts to cool off by mid-October.

Anything over 100 degrees feels the same, 105, 110, and even 122 degrees in June 1990.

Bring a frozen bottled water in your car...it'll thaw out within hours, then become hot (warm)...good for sun tea.

Your steering wheel gets so hot you learn to drive with oven mitts...(just kidding!)

Born here and having lived here all my life, I don't know any difference. However, when I was in Miami for vacation...oh, the HUMIDITY!!!!! I'll take the dry heat, triple-digit weather over the vast humidity anytime.

[Finger Laker]

it's a convenient misery - my parents had snow in upstate NY this past weekend ...... that's insane