Guess the non-NWS beginning of the monsoon season (Phoenix, Mesa: appointed, move)

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by BIG CATS

Yeah, screw the facts, right?

Walking out the door this morning felt just as humid as anything I felt in Chicago. It was 87 degrees, with 60% humidity, and nearly a 70-degree dewpoint. I bought a new car last night and this morning I was transferring stuff from my old car to the new one, and within 2 minutes I was sweating so bad I literally had sweat running off the end of my nose. It was gross.

Yep, I don't need numbers and facts to dictate how it feels to me when I go outside. I am talking about how it feels to me. Growing up in the Midwest on the Mississippi River, it would feel MUCH more "wet" outside than anything here. I can't compare numbers as far as dew points there vs here when I lived there as I didn't keep records of the dew point back then. Living here I have not experienced anything remotely close to the "walking into a wet blanket" feeling I would feel when I lived in the Midwest and walked outside on a truly humid, thick air, "juicy" day outside that lasts all day, not just first thing in the AM when most places have a higher dew point. That takes your breath away. If you don't have the AC running there, everything in the house feels wet, papers get soggy, etc. THAT would be considered gross.

Today felt just like another summer morning. Not gross to me whatsoever. Dew points don't even really get discussed by local weather people where I grew up until they get up in the 70s, which would be Puerto Vallarta levels and you definitely feel it, and that just doesn't happen here. (when I was in PV a couple of years ago we definitely felt it when the dew point was 78 and the temp was just slightly higher, it was almost suffocating unless you were near the ocean and there was a breeze. The air was completely saturated) Anything below that wasn't a big deal where I grew up as it was common and felt "normal".


I can tolerate it well as I am not a sweaty person, regardless of what I am doing, even when I was doing kickboxing back where I used to live in a gym that had no AC I still wouldn't sweat all that much.

[BIG CATS]

Youre lucky, then. I sweat profusely, and I think thats my biggest reason for despising summer so much. Regarding dew points, ours was at 70-degrees early this morning, which is tropical levels of moisture in the air. I seriously dont know how you cant feel it. It feels disgusting to me. When I got to work, I shut the a/c off in the car and when I opened the door, the rush of moist air fogged up the inside of the windshield almost instantly. Its gross feeling outside.

[LagunaMom]

Yep...
JUNE 27.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by BIG CATS

Youre lucky, then. I sweat profusely, and I think thats my biggest reason for despising summer so much. Regarding dew points, ours was at 70-degrees early this morning, which is tropical levels of moisture in the air. I seriously dont know how you cant feel it. It feels disgusting to me. When I got to work, I shut the a/c off in the car and when I opened the door, the rush of moist air fogged up the inside of the windshield almost instantly. Its gross feeling outside.

I feel it, but it doesn't feel unusual or gross to me. It feels like a normal summer day as I am used to it. I am not affected by it, nor am I bothered by it. I like it! It's so good for your skin!


As for windows fogging, I can't say I have used my window defrost in my car more than 5 times in the last 3 years. The windows just don't fog up on me here at all.

[TempeAZnative]

It is unbearably humid today yuck I can't wait until the monsoons are over. On that not we got pounded hard last night.

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

According to my Facebook "on this day" it also started the last week of June last year.


Got stinky rain at my house last night.

It started one day earlier last year (June 26th)

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by TempeAZnative

It is unbearably humid today yuck I can't wait until the monsoons are over. On that not we got pounded hard last night.

If you find this unbearable, don't ever visit the tropics!


Puerto Vallarta: 90F, feels like 109. Humidity 70%, dew point 79.


THAT would be stuffy.

[ScottsdaleMark]

90 with a 79 dewpoint is pretty rough indeed. Looking solely at 2015, Phoenix never got that high on dewpoint. The highest hourly dewpoint recorded in 2015 was 74 on August 27, a day that was 108/82 (95 avg dewpoint) with 0.37" of rain. The low dewpoint for that day was only 55 and the average was 64, so it wasn't super swampy all day long.

There were 14 days in 2015 with a max dewpoint reading of 70 or higher, but only eight times did we have a 24 hr average dewpoint of 65 or higher, all of those were 65-68. The average temps for those days ranged from the mid 80s to lower 90s.

Complete list:
July 18, 100/76 (88) avg dewpoint 65
July 19, 97/77 (87), avg dewpoint 65
Aug. 1, 2015, 103/80 (avg temp 92), avg dewpoint 65
Aug. 8, 2015, 102/80 (91), avg dewpoint 65
Aug. 25, 2015, 100/84 (92), avg dewpoint 67
Sept. 14, 2015, 98/76 (87), avg dewpoint 67
Sept. 21, 92/76 (84), avg dewpoint 68
Sept. 22, 97/72 (85), avg dewpoint 65

All of our 65+ avg days had rain that day or the day before. That's why I always love to see a really high dewpoint!

My research is ongoing but so far I show 79 as the highest-ever hourly dewpoint reading for Phoenix, and 74 for the highest-ever daily dewpoint reading ... but that data source (LINK) was only through 1995 so I am still researching. If anyone has that kind of data for 95-present please advise.

[TempeAZnative]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

If you find this unbearable, don't ever visit the tropics!


Puerto Vallarta: 90F, feels like 109. Humidity 70%, dew point 79.


THAT would be stuffy.

No thank you, it's absolutely unbearable outside.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by TempeAZnative

No thank you, it's absolutely unbearable outside.

I was just out. Felt fine to me! I barely even noticed that it was humid!