If Phoenix is that hot, why do so many move there? (Mesa: live in, restaurant)

[learicalAZ]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

I still remember the Phoenix Suns were stranded in downtown Denver for 2 days because the roads and airport was shut down due to a bad ice storm in 2006. Sorry, 110 doesn't do that.

110 may not, but didn't Sky Harbor have to shut down when the temperature hit 122 back in 1990? I thought the aircraft weight/take off run charts didn't go above 120 so planes couldn't take off until the temp dropped.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by learicalAZ

110 may not, but didn't Sky Harbor have to shut down when the temperature hit 122 back in 1990? I thought the aircraft weight/take off run charts didn't go above 120 so planes couldn't take off until the temp dropped.

So one day compares to the multiple occasions it occurs in Denver and other cold weather cities? Also, the highways and city wasn't shut down that particular day in 1990 unlike Denver. And the airport wasn't shut down the entire day just a few hours, slight difference wouldn't you say.

[learicalAZ]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

And the airport wasn't shut down the entire day just a few hours, slight difference wouldn't you say.

Yeah, once they got the sunplows going to get the runways clear of the excess heat, Sky Harbor opened right back up!

riverfan, you're preaching to the choir. I'm a 55 year old Phoenix native. I never even drove in the snow until I was 34. Don't much like the cold.

[mjd2k]

Originally Posted by Kimballette

That's why the search feature (at the top of the page) is so great. You can search for any topic that interests you. You'll be surprised at what you'll find.

I know how to search but didn't know I wanted to know until I knew.

[mjd2k]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

105-110 is easier to adapt to than 20's and 30's. It's much easier getting up in the morning and doing something when it's 90 degrees outside at 6 AM in the summer than trying to do something outdoors when it's 40 degrees outside.

Yes and no.... I get up many winter mornings its -30 with a wind. Jump in my truck which is in my heated garage, go for coffee. Leave my truck running, get back in after coffee, nice and warm and go to do my installs. Do carpentry stuff all day outside in -30. Not a problem but..... I started going to phoenix years ago in winter for a week, then 3 weeks, then 6 weeks, now I bought down there. You get there and just can't imagine being cold again.
When it was 32 degrees in Phoenix with the wind last winter, I froze my butt off yet 32 up here is a chinook.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by learicalAZ

Yeah, once they got the sunplows going to get the runways clear of the excess heat, Sky Harbor opened right back up!

No, your right, the 120 degree heat lasted the entire day and the airport was shut down just like in Denver, great point...oh wait it wasn't!

You're preaching to the choir. I'm a 55 year old Phoenix native. I never even drove in the snow until I was 34. Don't much like the cold.

Then why compare one situation 20 years ago to what is much more common in cold weather cities. It's a poor analogy. The situation in Denver was much more severe. The freeways were closed. Downtown Denver was practically evacuated and stores and restaurants closed with the exception of a few places. The situation in 1990 in Phoenix doesn't remotely compare to that so bringing it up was moot.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by mjd2k

Yes and no.... I get up many winter mornings its -30 with a wind. Jump in my truck which is in my heated garage, go for coffee. Leave my truck running, get back in after coffee, nice and warm and go to do my installs.

Yeah, it's great when you are leaving from your garage assuming of course the road is clear and doesn't have ice and snow. I did that this winter. There were mornings it was cold but leaving from a garage made it better. However, it's a totally different situation when your car has been parked outside overnight or outside for a prolonged period of time as mine was when it was 7 degrees outside and my car didn't heat up until 20 minutes later. The steering wheel was cold. The windows were iced over. I had to sit in my car for 10 minutes just for the windows to clear from the frost. Leaving your car in 110 degrees outside is much better. Yeah, it's hot when you first get in but you don't have to wait for frost to come off your windows. You don't have to worry about snow or ice on the roads. You can roll the windows down and let some breeze in to help cool down the car. Rolling down the windows in cold weather doesn't warm the car, it makes it worse.

People say you can wear layers and it makes it all better. B.s. when it's 7 degrees outside, no amount of clothing compensates for that. Your face freezes even with a scarf wrapped around it. The term bone chilling cold rings true. That type of cold goes right through your clothes and you try to get indoors as fast as you can. Us Phoenecians were all saying how we would gladly take 115 outside in Phoenix over this at that time. This was in Sierra Vista this winter. It was so cold, they ran out of natural gas in the area so people with gas heaters were out of luck. You don't want to be in that situation.

[SloCoChef]

Perfect weather isn't all it's cracked up to be! I lived on the coast of CA - and it was 60 to 70 with little variance year round - one big YAWN......... after years I'd had enough .... ! I used to love the comraderie and the sense of accomplishment after surviving yet another Michigan winter to the beautiful spring and lovely summer and stellar fall....... So I moved to AZ.... It has world class everything - I mean the Grand Canyon is here! The shopping is sooo lovely! The health care the best in the world in many respects... I can drive an hour away and be in towering Ponderosa so thick and high I can't but barely see the sky! Anyway - I am having to adjust my brain around doing the morning and late night going outdoors schedule - this is my first summer - I think yesterday or the day before it was to be 110 - house hunting was exhausting - even when I drank a ton of water .... staying indoors 'because' of the heat midday does feel really weird to me thus far... In the cold you can always throw a log on a fire to get warm - In the heat - there's no way to get cool except on the grid with A/C or driving to escape it up north AZ - even the pools get hot...especially if it has a dark pebbletec bottom... But when you do venture out into the heat - people and places are truly awesome in offering bottles of water and those 'misters' out on patios - to cool the air for patrons - they do cool things off a bit.... So now I'm once again faced with the elements - I thought it would be no different than a long winter - but it is really different - not bad - just different - gives me something to talk about with strangers as I try to meet people here and there - You have to pace yourself, prepare with water for travel anywhere - and the whole protecting your flesh in a hot car! Who knew a seatbelt buckle could burn you so bad - ouch! It's all good though - it's trying something different - I'm all for that...

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by SloCoChef

In the cold you can always throw a log on a fire to get warm - In the heat - there's no way to get cool except on the grid with A/C or driving to escape it up north AZ - even the pools get hot...especially if it has a dark pebbletec bottom... But when you do venture out into the heat - people and places are truly awesome in offering bottles of water and those 'misters' out on patios - to cool the air for patrons - they do cool things off a bit.... So now I'm once again faced with the elements - I thought it would be no different than a long winter - but it is really different - not bad - just different - gives me something to talk about with strangers as I try to meet people here and there - You have to pace yourself, prepare with water for travel anywhere - and the whole protecting your flesh in a hot car! Who knew a seatbelt buckle could burn you so bad - ouch! It's all good though - it's trying something different - I'm all for that...

I have a dark pebble tec pool and it's cool even when it was a 106 the other day. If it's too hot, turn up the AC, take a shower, jump in the pool, have cold drinks or escape to any strip mall where the stores keep the AC in the mid 60's. Heck, go to one of 5 ice skating rinks in the Valley if need be. I've never been burned by a seatbelt even when we had black leather interior with black plastic buckles.

Misters don't cool things down a bit, they cool things down a lot. I just put in a misting system (call Aquascience if interested). I measured the difference and it's a good 15 degrees cooler behind the mist on the patio when the misters are on. They are not cheap but if you can afford it and the heat really bothers you, it would probably be worth getting one installed on your deck.

Lastly, you are probably not drinking enough water. You need about 3 liters per day (assuming you don't have Congestive Heart Failure). It's easier to become dehydrated in this dry environment where you lose water more quickly yet don't feel the same thirst drive. I guarantee if you increase your water intake, you will feel cooler.

[Howard Roark]

For me, Phoenix Sky Harbor is the airport with the best weather to fly into or out of. That's one reason I don't mind the location. California airports are good too, but they are another hour longer in flights. I'd be leery flying out of Denver with its snow storms. So I would not pick Denver as a home address as a frequent flier. Maybe instead a place to retire.

I also noticed my joints tend to like the dryness of Phoenix.

There are all sorts of things I like about Phoenix: The sunny mornings, occasional nice sunsets, lots of fine restaurants, pro sports, mountain biking off road IN the city in the winter... And of course none of the killer weather storms that strike the south or midwest or northeast.

It's really my vacation spot any time of year since I'm rarely back home in Phoenix.