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Bingo! Defenders of Phoenix weather love to cherry pick the worst days elsewhere, rarely mentioning it's short lived nature compared to the endless hot days they endure. Failing this argument they'll fall back to choosing exceptional or extremely unusual weather incidents, citing its duration or extremes, mixed with some exaggeration. The final fall back is to mention cities with extremes, be it Houston for its protracted heat/humidity or Minneapolis for the opposite.
Sorry - I've lived in both, and by the averages, I'll take June-August in Phoenix over December-February in Chicago.
It's a matter of personal preferences. There is no wrong answer. If you want to be negative about it, what do you hate more?
Me? I can not stand the cold anymore. I'll willingly pay for 8 months of "warm" with 4 months of "Freakin' Hot"; I'm no longer willing to pay with 4 months of "Freakin' Cold".
Bingo! Defenders of Phoenix weather love to cherry pick the worst days elsewhere, rarely mentioning it's short lived nature compared to the endless hot days they endure. Failing this argument they'll fall back to choosing exceptional or extremely unusual weather incidents, citing its duration or extremes, mixed with some exaggeration. The final fall back is to mention cities with extremes, be it Houston for its protracted heat/humidity or Minneapolis for the opposite.
I just moved from the Oregon coast. Oregon is much like Phoenix in that the "duration" of the weather is the problem. Oregon doesn't typically get snow, it's almost never exceptionally hot, there isn't a lot of freezing weather west of the Cascade range and it doesn't usually rain very hard. DURATION.
So I'm not using extremes, I'll use averages. Where I lived in Oregon I got an "average" of 119 inches of rain per year. Take out July and August and you get roughly 300 days "cloudy" weather. At least on the coast. Do a little simple math and that ends up at about .4 inches of rain PER DAY. Those are the numbers but there is little weather data for the tiny town I'm from so lets take the nearest town of any size. Florence Oregon. Per Intellicast, about 70+ inches of rain per year. 300 days of cloudy weather. Same math and that's about 1/4 inch PER DAY. Those are the numbers my friend, not some random words and I lived it for 24 years. Rarely gets to 70 even in summer but also rarely gets below freezing. Just rain, wind and very cool temps.
Phoenix? Yeah, it's hot. Big whoop!
Again, lets look at the numbers. The "average highs in June, July and August are about 104 with average lows in the 70's. The extremes here DO NOT happen for months in a row. It's "short lived" as you say.
104 just isn't mind blowing hot. It's warm but it's not the blast furnace you make it out to be. 102 today and I was up on my roof painting the house. Nice breeze and I was fine. Fairly comfortable actually. I'll take a little heat because I can still do things outside. When it's pouring rain, windy with temps in the 40's, you probably aren't going to do much outdoors for like 10 months a year. It's the same in other places. Cold, snow, etc. You don't tend to go outside for outdoor activities much when it's like that.
Phoenix is year 'round. That's what I like about it. In many ways, like Hawaii in that you can do things all year if you choose. Maybe not the perceived paradise that Hawaii is but it also doesn't cost a fortune and I don't feel claustrophobic in such a small state surrounded only by water.
You wanna bash Phoenix? Go ahead but be honest about it. Cite some stats to show your claims so you don't appear a troll.
If you would like to comment on my numbers, here is the link to Intellicast Weather data.
I use Mesa because that's where I live but your welcome to use anywhere in the valley. Just type in the zip code and it will come right up.
We just moved here last August from back east as well. I agree with the initial post as well and I'd take 100 degrees over 70 degrees and humid back east. As for winter, I love the cold weather so that doesn't bother me about back east.
Two big things here I've found is that education is definitely deficient as well as the pay scale. My salary was cut by 60,000 moving here and we've struggled economically living here as compared to back east. The high school education here is horrendous. My kid is in English honors and the summer reading list consists of one book. That's unheard of back east. Consequently these two major factors are driving us back east, financial and education. We will more than likely become "snowbirds" but to live here isnt the easiest. When we first came here I thought store employees were very friendly. Otherwise, we still don't know our neighbors and I've been honked at quite a few times. Every person I've spoken to struggles financially. It's a very depressed state economically hence the foreclosure rate.
Otherwise we love it here. I love the mountains and the sunny skies. The cleanliness and newness I love as well. We hate to leave but money and education are lacking here.
June marks my 1 year anniversary here in the valley. I moved from the NYC metro area.
Here are my impressions of Tempe, the East Valley, and AZ in general.
The positives:
1) People are warm and friendly here. Much less rude than back East.
2) The weather is paradise. (I don't like the cold at all.) Even the AZ summers beat the humid 100 degree NYC summers.
3) The night time sky is beautiful. (I am an amateur astronomer). It is an astronomer's haven here.
4) "Traffic" on the 101 at rush hour (in and out of Chandler) and on the I-10/I-17 still moves... compared to NYC traffic!
5) They say the air quality is poor. However, my allergies and overall respiratory health (asthma) improved since I moved out here.
6) People are very active and are more health and green conscious.
7) Everything is so clean!
8) No tolls on the "freeways". (It took me a while to get used to saying "freeway". People on the east coast say "highway".)
9) I like that I see a bigger mix of liberals and conservatives living together. Yes, there are a higher number of conservatives here than in NYC but everyone seems to be civil about it.
10) everything has a more small town feel
11) people are much more civil on the road.
12) No one obnoxiously honks at you as soon as the light turns green.
13) There are places to park. You don't have to drive around 30 minutes looking for parking.
14) The mountains! Wow! The view of the mountains is incredible!
15) over 300 days of sunshine
16) Real estate is affordable. You get more "bang for your buck" here.
The negatives are:
1) the "flakyness" of 3 different real estate agents I worked with. I felt they were not "go-getters". I hope this isn't a reflection of the standard of how business is conducted.
2) all apartments have wall to wall carpet.
3) I feel as if getting an education is not appreciated as much,here. Teachers get paid very low salaries and many more students opt to go straight to work from high school. Perhaps this isn't such a bad thing since we do need unskilled workers and college isn't for everyone.. but it's the idea of striving for what's best, in my opinion.
Perhaps everything is still "new" to me but I'm enjoying AZ very much!
Very well said! The people are more laid back and friendly here! Probably because they are Midwest transplants not dealing with snow OR humidity anymore.
I just moved from the Oregon coast. Oregon is much like Phoenix in that the "duration" of the weather is the problem. Oregon doesn't typically get snow, it's almost never exceptionally hot, there isn't a lot of freezing weather west of the Cascade range and it doesn't usually rain very hard. DURATION.
So I'm not using extremes, I'll use averages. Where I lived in Oregon I got an "average" of 119 inches of rain per year. Take out July and August and you get roughly 300 days "cloudy" weather. At least on the coast. Do a little simple math and that ends up at about .4 inches of rain PER DAY. Those are the numbers but there is little weather data for the tiny town I'm from so lets take the nearest town of any size. Florence Oregon. Per Intellicast, about 70+ inches of rain per year. 300 days of cloudy weather. Same math and that's about 1/4 inch PER DAY. Those are the numbers my friend, not some random words and I lived it for 24 years. Rarely gets to 70 even in summer but also rarely gets below freezing. Just rain, wind and very cool temps.
Phoenix? Yeah, it's hot. Big whoop!
Again, lets look at the numbers. The "average highs in June, July and August are about 104 with average lows in the 70's. The extremes here DO NOT happen for months in a row. It's "short lived" as you say.
104 just isn't mind blowing hot. It's warm but it's not the blast furnace you make it out to be. 102 today and I was up on my roof painting the house. Nice breeze and I was fine. Fairly comfortable actually. I'll take a little heat because I can still do things outside. When it's pouring rain, windy with temps in the 40's, you probably aren't going to do much outdoors for like 10 months a year. It's the same in other places. Cold, snow, etc. You don't tend to go outside for outdoor activities much when it's like that.
Phoenix is year 'round. That's what I like about it. In many ways, like Hawaii in that you can do things all year if you choose. Maybe not the perceived paradise that Hawaii is but it also doesn't cost a fortune and I don't feel claustrophobic in such a small state surrounded only by water.
You wanna bash Phoenix? Go ahead but be honest about it. Cite some stats to show your claims so you don't appear a troll.
If you would like to comment on my numbers, here is the link to Intellicast Weather data.
I use Mesa because that's where I live but your welcome to use anywhere in the valley. Just type in the zip code and it will come right up.
I am not bashing Phoenix, I'm the one that says if you like the heat over the cold than Phoenix is the place for you. And I probably would prefer Phoenix to Wisconsin or Minnesota, where it's very cold. But STL winters are mild compared to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and even Chicago.
It's the Phoenix proponents that are not being realistic. My mom grew up in Wisconsin and when I told her that we were moving back to the Midwest she railed on the Wisconsin summers and how because of the humidity the summers were worse in Milwaukee than Phoenix. Well that frankly is asinine in my opinion. The average highs in Milwaukee are 75, 81, and 79 in June July and August respectively. Phoenix is 104, 106, and 105 during those same months. Yesterday it rained in STL and so it got really humid. It was 81 with 66% humidity. I drove my car around with the windows rolled down. The breeze was nice and it was not stifling at all. It was much more comfortable than 105 with little to no humidity. What frustrates me is that people act like it's 80+ with 70+% humidity every day in the midwest in the summer. That is frankly absurd. Those days are few and far between. And people act like Phoenix NEVER gets humidity. That is also false. When you are at 105 and then you get 20-25% humidity on top of it, it's stifling.
We just moved here last August from back east as well. I agree with the initial post as well and I'd take 100 degrees over 70 degrees and humid back east. As for winter, I love the cold weather so that doesn't bother me about back east.
Two big things here I've found is that education is definitely deficient as well as the pay scale. My salary was cut by 60,000 moving here and we've struggled economically living here as compared to back east. The high school education here is horrendous. My kid is in English honors and the summer reading list consists of one book. That's unheard of back east. Consequently these two major factors are driving us back east, financial and education. We will more than likely become "snowbirds" but to live here isnt the easiest. When we first came here I thought store employees were very friendly. Otherwise, we still don't know our neighbors and I've been honked at quite a few times. Every person I've spoken to struggles financially. It's a very depressed state economically hence the foreclosure rate.
Otherwise we love it here. I love the mountains and the sunny skies. The cleanliness and newness I love as well. We hate to leave but money and education are lacking here.
I'm not sure how you can say that. When it's 70 degrees, I don't feel the humidity at all. It's not a factor. Just like in Phoenix in December when it's 65 degrees and has 50-60% humidity. No one talks about it because at that temp humidity is not a factor.
We just moved here last August from back east as well. I agree with the initial post as well and I'd take 100 degrees over 70 degrees and humid back east. As for winter, I love the cold weather so that doesn't bother me about back east.
Two big things here I've found is that education is definitely deficient as well as the pay scale. My salary was cut by 60,000 moving here and we've struggled economically living here as compared to back east. The high school education here is horrendous. My kid is in English honors and the summer reading list consists of one book. That's unheard of back east. Consequently these two major factors are driving us back east, financial and education. We will more than likely become "snowbirds" but to live here isnt the easiest. When we first came here I thought store employees were very friendly. Otherwise, we still don't know our neighbors and I've been honked at quite a few times. Every person I've spoken to struggles financially. It's a very depressed state economically hence the foreclosure rate.
Otherwise we love it here. I love the mountains and the sunny skies. The cleanliness and newness I love as well. We hate to leave but money and education are lacking here.
Wow...not trying to be funny or anything...but $60,000 was cut from your salary..........I could live right comfortably on $60,000 and be very happy.....but then again it's just me and I have no family.
I am not bashing Phoenix, I'm the one that says if you like the heat over the cold than Phoenix is the place for you. And I probably would prefer Phoenix to Wisconsin or Minnesota, where it's very cold. But STL winters are mild compared to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and even Chicago. and STL winters are cold compared to memphis, atlanta, and oklahoma city... Why not try to compare cities along similar lattitude?
It's the Phoenix proponents that are not being realistic. My mom grew up in Wisconsin and when I told her that we were moving back to the Midwest she railed on the Wisconsin summers and how because of the humidity the summers were worse in Milwaukee than Phoenix. Well that frankly is asinine in my opinion. The average highs in Milwaukee are 75, 81, and 79 in June July and August respectively. Phoenix is 104, 106, and 105 during those same months. Yesterday it rained in STL and so it got really humid. It was 81 with 66% humidity. I drove my car around with the windows rolled down. The breeze was nice and it was not stifling at all. It was much more comfortable than 105 with little to no humidity. What frustrates me is that people act like it's 80+ with 70+% humidity every day in the midwest in the summer. That is frankly absurd. Those days are few and far between. And people act like Phoenix NEVER gets humidity. That is also false. When you are at 105 and then you get 20-25% humidity on top of it, it's stifling.
It depends on if youd rather sit and sweat or be hot and dry. I think youre forgetting that we climatize to it, and at least my own experiance, dont mind it at all. It was 100 outside yesterday, and I drove around here with my windows rolled down too. Only time I was bothered was when I sat at a light for a couple minutes. 20% humidity is high for the normal humidity here, and another point about the weather was how for the most part, especially compared to the rest of the country, our weather is very predictable..... (its going to be hot). For the most part, we dont get rain, we dont get humidity, and we rarely even get clouds.
I am not bashing Phoenix, I'm the one that says if you like the heat over the cold than Phoenix is the place for you. And I probably would prefer Phoenix to Wisconsin or Minnesota, where it's very cold. But STL winters are mild compared to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and even Chicago.
It's the Phoenix proponents that are not being realistic. My mom grew up in Wisconsin and when I told her that we were moving back to the Midwest she railed on the Wisconsin summers and how because of the humidity the summers were worse in Milwaukee than Phoenix. Well that frankly is asinine in my opinion. The average highs in Milwaukee are 75, 81, and 79 in June July and August respectively. Phoenix is 104, 106, and 105 during those same months. Yesterday it rained in STL and so it got really humid. It was 81 with 66% humidity. I drove my car around with the windows rolled down. The breeze was nice and it was not stifling at all. It was much more comfortable than 105 with little to no humidity. What frustrates me is that people act like it's 80+ with 70+% humidity every day in the midwest in the summer. That is frankly absurd. Those days are few and far between. And people act like Phoenix NEVER gets humidity. That is also false. When you are at 105 and then you get 20-25% humidity on top of it, it's stifling.
Nope.
There are plenty of very uncomfortable days in any number of NE cities, if not the midwestern places you've mentioned. It's not just a once in a while phenomenon.
The humidity here even at worst in July/Aug. is moderate, not as high as elsewhere. That leaves the overall feeling of heat comparable to lower temps and higher humidity found elsewhere.
As far as it being everyday or not, Phoenix has a more open and modern infrastructure, so every day or not really doesn't matter-during the day one knows to be in AC during certain hours. In fact, if the heat is there every day it's far easier to get in a habit of avoidance through routine.
Wow...not trying to be funny or anything...but $60,000 was cut from your salary..........I could live right comfortably on $60,000 and be very happy.....but then again it's just me and I have no family.
lol agreed. That guy having to "rough" it minus 60k gets no sympathy here.
As far as the educational system I believe that it's still decent here, and any parent who is concerned about it can decide to take an active role to compensate for any perceived deficiencies-family influence at home is a huge if not the critical factor, not the system itself.
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