As you all know by now, summer is upon us once again. Being from San Diego, the summer is the best time of the year. There are always things to do both inside and outside. Mostly outside however as the weather is so beautiful. Here in Arizona I have found things tend to go a little bit different. The heat out here can get to some pretty high temperatures, and I’ve even seen as high as 120. Now at first this shocked me, but in the year I have spent here, things have turned around. I like to compare Arizona heat with the heat that you feel when you open the oven to check if the food is done, but it feels like that all the time. The air is stuffy and sometimes the wind can feel like fire.
This isn’t actually as bad as it may seem however. For without the bad, we cannot correctly appreciate the good. This heat opens up for plenty of activities, such as swimming, staying inside, and the fun of running from building to building as you try to stay in the AC. While the heat is obviously obnoxious, I believe that it still does good things for everyone who lives with it. I have seen people meet under their common enemy, and there have been plenty of cooling inventions that have come out of AZ. While the people may not have the same idea about the heat that I do, I feel that people still don’t hate it as much as they would like to say. It does plenty of good for the environment too, as heat can be a catalyst for breaking down decomposing materials such as plants.
As I mentioned before, I am from San Diego, where it is a cool 75 pretty much all year. This heat in AZ came to me as quite a shock, but I have come to live with it. One thing I am glad to be rid of is the humidity. Sometimes, when it would actually get hot in San Diego it would be extremely humid. That’s one thing you won’t get here, all of the heat is dry heat, which I believe is better than humid heat. In AZ, walking outside won’t immediately make you sweat and make you feel sticky. Life goes on as normal anyways, the heat has just become a regular occurrence, and after a certain point, you will hardly notice it any more, as it just becomes commonplace. Just remember to stay hydrated, and find something to cool yourself off with, it’s never a bad idea. Happy Summer!
