Out Arizona Way

[ezdays]

I've talked a lot in the Hobo Camp threads about the Arizona summers, so you might have herd some of this stuff before, so after this, I'm backing off. There aren’t too many people on the planet that haven’t heard, “but it’s a dry heat,” when talking about how hot it gets in this part of Arizona. That point was emphasized a few years ago when the relative humidity dropped to 2%. As I recall, the dew point was around –5 degrees as well. My meager knowledge of weather numbers tells me that this says that the temperature has to drop to at least –5 degrees before we can hope to see even a trace of dew or condensation, never mind rain. I think a few years later, it dropped to 1%, but who's really paying attention? What’s normal? Well, the humidity is usually around 6-10% on most summer days (Monsoon season not withstanding). So, what’s it like when the humidity gets that low? For one thing, you don’t seem to perspire much; but in fact, you do. You just don’t notice it because most of it evaporates before it accumulates on your skin. The bottom line here is that when it gets that hot, it’s not that pleasant, regardless of how dry it is.

 Speaking of weather and evaporation, we have something that happens here in the summer when it does rain. Frequently, it’s so blasted hot out that the rain evaporates before it hits the ground. If you’ve lived here for a while, you sometimes really feel the need to be rained on. We’ve headed over in the direction where we see it raining only to find the moisture never made it all the way down. It does cool things off a bit, but that’s not enough satisfaction, so back home and bask in the A/C.

Just a few more words about the heat, when it’s over 105, it doesn’t matter; I’ve always said that you can’t tell too much difference after that anyway. However, the hotter it gets the more caution you need when touching things that have been outside for a while. If you turn a hose on that's been lying in the sun, the water that comes out can scald you. Also, if your vehicle has been parked outside, use care in touching anything metal. You can get a nasty burn from the shiny trim. Keep the door open for a bit to air the car out, temperatures inside can exceed 150 degrees quickly. The first blast of the A/C will bake your face as well, so be careful. Don’t try to walk around barefooted either. One summer, someone tried to get across the street to hand a letter to the mailman. He got halfway there without shoes on before he couldn’t walk anymore. Neighbors carried him with his blistering feet to his lawn where he waited for an ambulance. I frequently see young men walking around without a shirt on, or women with the smallest top and shortest pants that the law will allow. That’s crazy; even with sunscreen they can wind up with some nasty consequences. There are frequent rescues of hikers not able to get back down a mountain trail, exhaustion or lack of water are popular reasons.

And that's life in the Arizona desert, although our Summer Monsoon Seasons are different. We can talk about that some other time.