Cold Weather here in the Valley of the Sun

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

In my experience, the natives complain the most about the weather because they haven't lived anywhere else and have no point of comparison. It's usually the transplants who are grateful for the weather because they've endured worse weather elsewhere and can appreciate our weather.

Regarding the native vs transplant issue. I'm okay with it. I think transplants have taken enough abuse on the forum for years. If the natives can't handle a little ribbing in return, they need to grow thicker skin.

Did you read any of this thread?

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

It was transplants on this board crying that they moved here and was too cold.

Absolutely right! Transplants are the ones who complain the most about weather ... not when it's warm & sunny of course, but usually when it's too cold outside (and sometimes too hot), or too cloudy, too humid, too rainy, too dusty, too this, too that. This forum alone has a good share of weather complaint topics, including this very thread which was started by a none other than a transplant.

Then there's this one:
https://www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...back-heat.html

And this one:
https://www.city-data.com/forum/arizo...t-el-nino.html

And this one:
https://www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...-dirt-air.html

And this one:
https://www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...d-october.html

And this one:
https://www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...sense-end.html

And this one:
https://www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...t-phoenix.html

And those are just within the last six months or so. The thing they all have in common is they were all started by ... transplants!

[Prickly Pear]

I think when people move here they know that the desert is a different ball game than wherever they are from (the humid East or the Mediterranean climate of California or the marine climate of Oregon and Washington) but they don't exactly realize how much different until they actually live here.

I think people move to Arizona with rosy glasses. They see winter highs in the 70s and they think it's a paradise (and it kind of is, but we aren't Hawaii). Then they move here and realize that mornings can be in the 20s and 30s while still reaching those temperatures by the afternoon, only to drop down again to like the 40s by bedtime and continue to drop until the sun rises again. Since most AZ transplants I'd say are from the Midwest or Northeast they are used to even colder temperatures but they don't expect the big temperature changes when highs are in the 70s. When you live somewhere with some degree of humidity it keeps temperatures more similar through out the day... Most people don't know this. I'd say it's the one con to living in a dry climate, outside of little rain. The West Coast has the ocean to prevent it from doing what we deal with, so not even Californians (since most live along the coast) truly realize it either unless they visit the Mojave all the time. It's going from a heavy jacket in the morning to a tank top in the afternoon, only to dip down again to a heavy jacket. It's a nuisance, I won't lie, but it's the tradeoff we get for living here. We as in everyone who lives in the Interior West from Canada to Mexico. People from Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, inland Washington/Oregon, and New Mexico understand the big temperature drops. But this is the least populated region of the 48... So most Americans aren't experienced with this.

In a dry climate, it's quite literally only the sun at work. No water in the air to help the sun out. So when we reach the 115s we can thank the sun for that... when it is 100 at night we can thank the dirt for holding the sun's heat for us (and the Northern Hemisphere is still towards the sun which helps keep it this high)... When it's the winter time and the sun isn't almost right above us we can thank the sun that it's in the 70s... But when it's 30 something degrees it's because the sun is favoring the other half of the planet and ignoring us, so in a way we can thank the sun for this as well. Our temperatures directly relate to where the sun is in the sky and how much rays we are getting, and for how long. Only a couple months out of the year (monsoon season and the period during the winter where it rains) do we ever really see some humidity, and boy is the weather different than the "norm" we see for the rest of the year as far as temperatures go.

While I'll be the one complaining in the summer time I have been living here for more than 20 years now. I truly know what's coming to me. I've lived through a few El Ninos and La Ninas. Only transplants think our winters are warm all the time... While being warm is relative I think I'd surprise a few people if I told them we go below freezing quite often even in Phoenix!