[tijlover]

Since I'll be moving to Tucson, I've been comparing the temp's between Las Vegas & Tucson for 3 years now. What will you see? Cooler evenings for sure (by 5-10 degrees) in the summer, but colder evenings in winter. And a few degrees cooler in the daytime. Altitude is the name of the game in the SW! Go 65 miles south of Tucson to Nogales/Rio Rico, and you've risen to 3880 feet!

Tucson also gets more precip. (10-11 inches a year), in comparison to Las Vegas with our 4 inches a year.
Translated, more humidity in Tucson!

Phoenix gets 7-8 inches of precip. a year, a little more humidity there.

What's most enviable about Phoenix is the lack of winds in wintertime. 6.2MPH average windspeeds, in comparison to Las Vegas' nasty 9.2MPH. When I lived there I never complained about the nasty windchill there in winter, as opposed to this city, where you need longjohns to survive our winters!

[brucerby]

Originally Posted by tijlover

....What's most enviable about Phoenix is the lack of winds in wintertime. 6.2MPH average windspeeds, in comparison to Las Vegas' nasty 9.2MPH. When I lived there I never complained about the nasty windchill there in winter, as opposed to this city, where you need longjohns to survive our winters!

Wow...I never realized that! It occurs to me I've only been in Las Vegas in the spring or summers.

Las Vegas Long Johns, who would have thunk it?

[yellowsnow]

Maybe it's a little less windy overall but I've seen some really bad dust storms in the Phoenix area. More than I've seen in Vegas. I agree Vegas is a few degrees cooler. The summer humidity in Phoenix is rough once the monsoons start. It can feel like a steambath!

[NLVgal]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

Maybe it's a little less windy overall but I've seen some really bad dust storms in the Phoenix area. More than I've seen in Vegas. I agree Vegas is a few degrees cooler. The summer humidity in Phoenix is rough once the monsoons start. It can feel like a steambath!

It's been like that here lately as well. Agreed on the dust storms. Why does that dust kick up like that? We get wind here too, but not the dust storms like Pheonix.

Oh and to the previous poster- yes it gets cold here. In the twenties with high winds at times.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

Elevation of Tucson is a little higher than Las Vegas. Haven't been to Sierra Vista in 40 some years, but as I recall there were trees, and the mountains were within a few short miles, so it must be higher than Tucson.

It is actually down in a river valley (the San Pedro) but is still high 4600 feet or so. It is a clear scrub desert climate. No real trees except along the river. Quite dry - virtually all homes have swamp coolers as well as AC. It is reasonably close to Bisbee which is into the mountains and well treed and also to Tombstone which is pretty much naked desert.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by brucerby

Wow...I never realized that! It occurs to me I've only been in Las Vegas in the spring or summers.

Las Vegas Long Johns, who would have thunk it?

If you plan to be outside in December on a windy day (or night) you might feel comfortable in long johns, but few people here actually wear those. It can get below freezing sometimes late at night or, mostly, early morning, and that lasts maybe an hour usually, and nobody is out at that time of night anyway. But our winters are pretty mild compared to ...well, almost anywhere except SoCal. You'll also see people (usually very fat people) in t-shirts and shorts in winter. Only one time in my 48 years here have we had relatively deep snow that was still on the ground three days later. It's usually gone in 20 minutes if it snows at all.

If you've ever been ice skating on a frozen lake in West Virginia when it was 20º below you'll know what cold is; or skiing at Jackson, WY, on the first of January.

It's all relative.

[lvoc]

Yup - I adopt to the cold weather by putting on long pants. I wear shorts from March to the first of December and long pants the winter time. If it is really cold or the wind is blowing hard I wear a wind breaker. I have good winter gear from my days in upstate NY. But one does not wear a parka at 30 degrees F.

I can't imagine ever wearing long johns in Vegas. That is for winter weather. I suppose if you are ski patrol on Mt. Charleston. But otherwise insane.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by NLVgal

It's been like that here lately as well. Agreed on the dust storms. Why does that dust kick up like that? We get wind here too, but not the dust storms like Phoenix.

Oh and to the previous poster- yes it gets cold here. In the twenties with high winds at times.

A lot of the areas the dust gets picked up in are agricultural, so the dirt is not packed like the natural desert (although when it's as dry as it's been here, some of that gets picked up too). Some of it is the directions from which those storms come, they have a long straight shot into the Valley, without mountains blocking the way. Topography and wind direction(s) in Vegas must be different.

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by lvoc

Yup - I adopt to the cold weather by putting on long pants. I wear shorts from March to the first of December and long pants the winter time. If it is really cold or the wind is blowing hard I wear a wind breaker. I have good winter gear from my days in upstate NY. But one does not wear a parka at 30 degrees F.

I can't imagine ever wearing long johns in Vegas. That is for winter weather. I suppose if you are ski patrol on Mt. Charleston. But otherwise insane.

I have seen them come out at 45 and below in Vegas and certainly pretty warm jackets are out in December and January. It is pretty hilarious when you see locals are wearing some pretty heavy jackets while a handful of tourists insist on wearing shorts and sandals even though its in the 40s or 50s.

[NLVgal]

Originally Posted by observer53

A lot of the areas the dust gets picked up in are agricultural, so the dirt is not packed like the natural desert (although when it's as dry as it's been here, some of that gets picked up too). Some of it is the directions from which those storms come, they have a long straight shot into the Valley, without mountains blocking the way. Topography and wind direction(s) in Vegas must be different.

Yeah, Vegas is a valley with mountains on three sides. When I see storms picking up from your neck of the woods, I pay attention.