Summer in Arizona

Phoenix thunderstorm

If you don't like the Arizona weather, wait a moment and it will change... well, that's true sometimes, but... the weather in Arizona really does follow a predictable pattern. If the spring is cool, people begin making predictions about the summer based on that. If the spring is wet, they predict how it will be from that. If it is hot too soon, they prognosticate about that. And they are never right, because you cannot predict what Arizona will be like next month based on what it is doing right now. There is no connection. I'm serious, so listen!

I am amazed at how much of the year is climate-perfect when compared to the public's perception of the hell they think it is here. We have about two to three months of searing heat combined with higher humidity. These weeks are definitely uncomfortable, to say it plainly. But the rest of the year is comfortable if not exquisite. Not San Diego perfect, for sure, but in its own way still nearly perfect.

Not too cold...

I very rarely find things cold enough here to even wear a jacket, even in January (in my part of the state anyway...). Short sleeves in winter-time are the norm for me. In March and April, the days are warmer and the evenings cool or even chilly. Spring winds do not happen here in March like in other places -- but as a general rule Arizona's spring winds arrive in April. That's one time when allergies are worse for people here. Then in May the days start to warm. The skies are blue, blue, blue.

In June, the heat arrives -- but it is still dry and not uncomfortable. Even 105 degrees in June isn't that bad -- and at first, it is even desirable. There's something especially comforting about a 100 degree day in June -- that warm air hits you and soothes your soul. You think, it is going to be a good summer. The evenings are still cool, once the sun sets. Oh, but then in late June or July that humidity starts to creep in and the winds shift... and we start to think about visiting people who live in cooler places.

The air masses reverse their prevailing flow -- and warm moist air from the nearby ocean gulfs flows in with the Arizona monsoon -- a true monsoon. However, if you call our seasonal dust storms "haboobs," I will slap you silly. (What a stupid word. Save it for the Sahara.)


Anyway, in July and August, this seasonal shifting of the air flow brings in our "wet" season -- thunderstorms, dust storms, lightning. It's dramatic, beautiful, with 45,000 foot tall cumulo-bumpers surrounding us -- but in between these afternoon "blows" it is muggy-hot and after a couple of days of that I am ready for October's cool crisp air.

A summer thunderstorm "anvils" out along SR85 near Lukeville.

In the days of my youth, from the time I was 11 or 12, I would spend part of each summer with my Dad wherever he happened to be. One year, he was in Michigan, another New Mexico. When I would be sent home after the vacation, I traveled by air occasionally. There were no "jetways" in 1965. To get on an airplane, you walked out across the concrete and climbed a set of "air stairs." One of my best memories, one of those things that you never forget, was (after spending a few weeks in some cooler place) stepping out the door of an air-conditioned jetliner at the Phoenix airport and having that first blast of Arizona heat hit me in the face like a blanket. It was tangible. It was home. It was a warm-fuzzy. Or should I say it was a blast-furnace HOT-fuzzy. I loved it (for a minute or two anyway)

I am always happy when our heat arrives. I enjoy it for awhile. Then I am just as happy when it goes. Arizona does have its seasons -- they are just not like other places' seasons! They add variety to our desert existence and keep us from getting too bored.