Was the NJ weather two weeks ago similar to the weather in AZ?

[Paige65]

If what you experienced in NJ was super hot with low humidity, that's an AZ summer day.

I travel back and forth from the Chicago area to PHX many times a year. When I was there last (two weeks ago) the temp was over 100 degrees a few of the days. It felt hot but not unpleasant if you aren't working in the heat or you are in the shade. The humidity is so low. It feels different.

Today, in the Chicago area it's 91 with a "real feel" of 101 degrees. The humidity is 70%. It's awful. In Phoenix right now it's 99 with a real feel of 104 and 14% humidity. That's a typical Phoenix day. Id rather be there feeling 104 than here where it feels like 101 and sticky.

Some will say, "what about monsoon season!?!" It's not like every day during the monsoon season is filled with high humidity and downpours. If it were, AZ would be lush and green.

[ElleTea]

Where I grew up there is currently a heat index of 109, humidity is 62% and dew point is 78. THAT is humid and literally will take your breath away. What we see for brief moments in Phx is not humid, IMO.

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by potanta

People said nighttime temperatures are usually pleasant in Phoenix Metro's summers.

"Pleasant" is a personal thing. For me, the evenings are okay roughly through the first half of June, on average. July and August are for the pool. I don't enjoy sitting outside in the evening most nights during those months. By mid- or late-September we're back to being okay in the evening.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by potanta

It's so cliche to heat people say, "It's a desert, so the heat will be comfortable and really dry at 110 degrees!"

It's all about perspective. I used to live in Baton Rouge LA and worked in BR and New Orleans. Louisiana sucks in the summer, 90+ temps and 60%-80% humidity, easily. No breeze either. Dallas was even worse when I lived there - same humidity but temps in mid to high 90s. So yeah - 110 with humidity less than 20% and a breeze IS comfortable to me.

[sunluv]

Most of the time, the same bromides are trotted out. Paige I noticed thinks along more realistic lines...PHX is comparable or better than many other locales, even in summer. Chicago, NYC, many areas of the continent suffer in the summer. Just back from a trip to NYC; the weather there sucks! The term urban heat island might’ve originated in NYC, given the heat, humidity, absence of breezes. I’ll take PHX monsoon season any day because the humidity here is milder and is only some days, and the air is much clearer. PLUS..much easier to escape heat into AC in a modern city like PHX...other older cities not easy at all..try getting onto a PATH or NYC subway train on platforms where it’s 10 degrees warmer than on the street, with no air circulation. In no time, your clothes are stuck to you.

Now, it’s true that it’s gonna be more pleasant in Clifton NJ or the Shore than lower Manhattan, but still the humidity/dirt/haze mixed in to NYC area air is horrible; pronounced humidity and no breeze mixed with grime means you’re wearing all of it by day’s end. Probably as bad as Baton Rouge. The summer in much of the rest of the country isn’t better than what’s in Phoenix, even with the deceptively high temps here.

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by sunluv

Now, it’s true that it’s gonna be more pleasant in Clifton NJ or the Shore than lower Manhattan, but still the humidity/dirt/haze mixed in to NYC area air is horrible; pronounced humidity and no breeze mixed with grime means you’re wearing all of it by day’s end. Probably as bad as Baton Rouge. The summer in much of the rest of the country isn’t better than what’s in Phoenix, even with the deceptively high temps here.

I'm willing to bet our air is worse than NYC's. I cant remember the last time I didn't see pollution warnings here, or that grimy haze.

[Jnvlv247]

Think about this

A day of 90 degree plus in the northeast with 70% humidity will feel humid of course. When they drop to humidity levels of 40-50% that is DRY for them. Now in the south, they can get over 70% humidity and that is normal but very humid to ANYONE really. Even people from other humid climates. That's oppressive heat.

So imagine being in AZ in the winter-spring and the RH never goes over 30% (with the exception of mornings or when it rains in the winter-although it's not HOT) and it goes to single digits for the peak of the day. Then, all over a sudden that 30%-which was the RH in the morning is now the peak humidity when it's over 100!! That is humid for a dry climate. We are not used to this. It happens in monsoon season ever year but it stays overnight and does't go away much at all.

This past heat wave we saw 116 degrees with a 50 degree DP!! So yes it's 11% percent humidity but that's a high dP and you feel that. The early July heat wave was 115 and the DP was only 39 with a single digit RH!! Big difference if you ask me.

So yes our hot days are records, end of the world for NE. Our cool days are your warm days in winter. Our humid days are your dry days, etc

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by sunluv

Most of the time, the same bromides are trotted out. Paige I noticed thinks along more realistic lines...PHX is comparable or better than many other locales, even in summer. Chicago, NYC, many areas of the continent suffer in the summer. Just back from a trip to NYC; the weather there sucks! The term urban heat island might’ve originated in NYC, given the heat, humidity, absence of breezes. I’ll take PHX monsoon season any day because the humidity here is milder and is only some days, and the air is much clearer. PLUS..much easier to escape heat into AC in a modern city like PHX...other older cities not easy at all..try getting onto a PATH or NYC subway train on platforms where it’s 10 degrees warmer than on the street, with no air circulation. In no time, your clothes are stuck to you.

Now, it’s true that it’s gonna be more pleasant in Clifton NJ or the Shore than lower Manhattan, but still the humidity/dirt/haze mixed in to NYC area air is horrible; pronounced humidity and no breeze mixed with grime means you’re wearing all of it by day’s end. Probably as bad as Baton Rouge. The summer in much of the rest of the country isn’t better than what’s in Phoenix, even with the deceptively high temps here.

My dad's immediate family who lives in Jersey City (which borders NYC) says that Jersey City is hotter than where I live in the NJ suburbs. They always have to bring a light jacket to my house during the summer, because they are weather wimps where "perfect temperatures" at night are considered "too cold" for them. They're like that. They think great temperatures are cold.


I agree with you. I visit NYC probably every other month and the heat their sucks. It's grimy, smelly, and more humid than NYC's suburbs. NJ doesn't smell like how people stereotype it. NJ only smells by Elizabeth side. Probably all of NJ is free from NYC's grime and NYC's pollution. NYC's transportation is dirty and needs AC. Where I live in NJ, we don't smell grime and the air is not as humid as NYC. I'd rather sweat from hiking and have it smell like the woods rather than sweat and smell like NYC's grime.