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More of a geology question, but why does our planet Earth refuses to lower Phoenix's high heat scorching temperature? Where do all the hot winds blowing from?
Basically, in the summer there are several factors why it is hot in PHX. The low elevation, relative low latitude, instense sun angle, dry air, upper level disturbances pass too far north to bring cold fronts in...lack of vegetation to provide shade, mainly sand and rock in the soil, etc. This means that the sun heats the air faster and quicker in this area and there is a lack of water and humidity to slow down the same process...
Now, at night there are several factors at play. The ground is so hot from the heat of the day that it never cools sufficiently to lower the air temperature above it to a "comfortable" level. Add in the urban heat island and this is magnified.
Another aspect is that there isn't really any vertical dynamic going on in the atmosphere. There is not mixing, usually it is just a high pressure system that compacts the air and heats it. This surpresses clouds as well...and even at altitudes higher in the atmosphere, the temperatures are quite warm.
In essence, it is hard for it to get cool here in the summer for those reasons until the upper level wind patterns shift and bring in cooler air from more northern latitudes or from the ocean.
Phoenix area seems like a heat cage, surrounded by mountains and deserts, but doesn't explain all things itself. So the key to your question may lie on wind direction. A warm wind surely may be the reason why nights are so hot there.
It often isn't windy here at all in the summer, unless there's a monsoon storm going on. Yes, there's a bit of a heat island here, but there are very hot cities/towns all over the desert parts of AZ, not just Phoenix.
Is Phoenix unusually hot relative to Arizona, or to it's geographical location, region or latitude?
I get the impression that many of the hot desert climates in general get to the 100s F summer highs.
It often isn't windy here at all in the summer, unless there's a monsoon storm going on. Yes, there's a bit of a heat island here, but there are very hot cities/towns all over the desert parts of AZ, not just Phoenix.
A BIT of a heat island??? Try a major heat island caused by massive sprawl and urbanization. The proof is in the increase of the average Phoenix temperature over the past half century, especially the evening lows. There was a time many years ago when the highest minimum temperature in Phoenix ever recorded was 88 degrees ... nowadays, 88 is pretty close to average during a good part of the summer. Ever notice how the low temperature doesn't drop below 90 degrees many times in July & August? That's the heat island effect, which is more than just a blip on the radar.
The only good thing that has come of the heat island is the reduced amount of sub freezing temperatures in the winter. When Phoenix was much smaller, it was pretty common to have some low temperatures in the winter fall below 32 degrees. Now, it's very uncommon. The hard freezes we had this past winter would have been much more severe had it not been for the heat island effect. The cold spells in early January and early February saw low temperatures no lower than 30 degrees at Sky Harbor ... but 40 or 50 years ago, the lows would have easily been in the lower 20s under a similar occurrence.
Lack of water. No evaporation to cool the ground. Same reason you get cool when you sweat. One of the reasons we don't sweat here. No moisture. Because of this there is a lack of vegetation, not much evapotranspiration from plants either.
That's why it gets so cold in the desert without snow or rain in the winter at night.
Not sweating here means your body can't cool down, either can the ground, although it also means you don't have wet clothes or humidity and people seem like that side effect.
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