How Hot is a 115-Degree Day?

Every time I watch the news, it seems like the heat wave is the lead story. In Arizona, the weather always seems to be a topic of conversation. My Chicago colleagues often ask me to describe exactly how hot a 115-degree day really is.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I absolutely hate the summers in Phoenix. "Dry heat" is a fallacy, in my opinion. I have been coming to Arizona for 11 years, and I've lived here for seven, and I still have not gotten used to the heat. It's miserable, unbearable, and insufferable. A slight breeze blows by and you feel like you are in the inside of a clothes dryer. Just walking from the office to the car causes me to break out in a sweat. The heat truly saps all of my energy. I'm usually asleep on the couch by 9:30 pm, exhausted from the stress caused on my body by the high temperatures.

The worst part for me is that my dogs, who of course I would do anything for, still require their twice daily walks. So, we get up before 6:00 am for our half-hour walk, and it's already 90 degrees and rising. By the time we get back to the house, the dogs are panting hard. In the evenings, I wait until dark, usually after 8:00 pm. There is often a hot breeze by that time, and we trudge along for another half hour of panting and sweating. Instead of a few biscuits to coax the dogs along during the walk, they now are treated to carrots to get a little bit of water to sustain them. At times, the air is so hot that it almost hurts to breathe it in.

The only saving grace during the summer is my backyard pool. Every night after work, I spend an hour swimming or floating in the relatively cooling water. Granted, the temperature of the pool is about 90 to 95 degrees, which is probably warmer than most baths. However, with the 100+ degree air temperature, the water feels good. I actually have a bit of a chill when I get out of the pool to dry off. Occasionally the dogs will join me to cool off. They also get to enjoy their "frosty paws" doggie ice cream treats.

So, I don't really have a good answer to the question of "how hot is 115 degrees." This week, the temperature has dropped to 105 degrees, and I can't really tell the difference. Anything over 100 is too hot; in fact, anything over 80 is too hot for me. Many of the Phoenix diehards will tell you that they prefer their "dry heat" summers to the humidity of the Midwest. Granted, there are times in Chicago when the humidity is in the 90% range and you start to sweat as soon as you step out of the shower. The humidity is no picnic either. However, it might last a few days or even a week--never for an entire four-month span.

The miserable Phoenix summer starts in mid-May and lasts until about the second week of October. Usually in late July or early August, the monsoon season hits. I have never really understood the monsoon phenomenon, but it is related to wind patterns and rain being brought from the south. Typically in the late afternoons, a thunderstorm will hit for anywhere from a few minutes to maybe a half hour. The rain comes fairly hard and heavy, and often flooding occurs because of poor drainage in the desert. Unlike Midwest thunderstorms, the monsoons do not result in cooling temperatures. It's just a hot rain storm followed by more hot air. For those of you visiting our Glendale campus in September, don't think it will be cool--it will still be unbearably hot. But by about the second week of October, the heat finally breaks, leaving comfortable 80-degree days with cool mornings and evenings to enjoy.

If I can stand the heat in Phoenix in the summer, you probably can too. Like me, you may hate it but you will find ways to live with it. The payoff, of course, comes in December to February, when the rest of the country is complaining about cold and snow. Unlike most of the residents in Phoenix, I don't hate the winter. I actually enjoy having four seasons. I do realize, however, that I am fortunate that every week or so, I get to fly across the country to a completely different environment. If I've grown weary of scraping ice off my car in subfreezing temperatures in January in Chicago, I know that in a few days I'll be hiking with the dogs wearing sunscreen and shorts at Thunderbird Park. If I'm truly sick of Phoenix summer heat in July, I know that in a few days I'll be back walking along Chicago's lakefront and enjoying summer festivals and concerts in the city.

While weather probably shouldn't be the deciding factor--one way or the other--on where you go to school for four years, it is a consideration. MWU gives you options. Wherever you are, I hope you are enjoying the summer and surviving the heat wave. As for me, I'm looking forward to being back on the lakefront this weekend to enjoy a nice Chicago summer day.