Phoenix heat is a killer

DH & I briefly considered moving to Scottsdale, AZ (part of the Phoenix area) in the late 1980s. Then we learned their weather rule-of-thumb: Every year expect 100 days over 100°. Decided to stay in much cooler LA.

I just checked my city's daily temps over the past twelve months: 15 days at 100° or higher, none at 110° or more. However, we've had heat spells in recent earlier years with beastly daily highs of 114° and up. Hoping for a mild 2024 summer.
 
It is a sad and troubling situation. Clearing out The Zone resulted in the homeless shelters filling up. There has been some housing being opened up, mainly vacant motels and hotels but not fast enough to keep up. I did read that Maricopa County is opening up more cooling stations for this summer.

One other problem with the heat is that a lot of people have moved into the area in the past 4 years and don't understand how fast the heat can kill. A few have died in the past few years while hiking the mountain parks during the peak times of the heat. Those who have lived in the Valley area long enough know to take walks or hikes early in the morning. Phoenix and the surrounding cities are now starting to close down the hiking trails when there are the extreme heat warnings.

When I was a kid it still did get hot of course but 110 degree days were not as common and the night time lows were much cooler. At that time there were many orange groves, farms and open desert land in the Valley. Such places no longer exists and have been replaced by homes, office buildings and pavement. It literally has become a "concrete jungle". As a kid, I always knew to get out of the pool around 5 pm because I knew that the odds were a thunderstorm was approaching. Those summer thunderstorms don't happen as often now but we do still get the dust storms.

I did watch a documentary on water use in the Phoenix area and was surprised that more water was used in the Phoenix area back in the 1950's than now mainly because of the farming in the area. And now that TSMC is building their factories in the area, the Feds are going to make sure that solutions are found should water shortages happen in the future.

Between October and around early June the weather is fine for the most part but mid June-Mid October it can get deadly.
 
@MarkinPhx I thought you might contribute to this. I felt I was seeing more homeless when the eviction moratorium was lifted. I drove thru an area of southwest scottsdale the other day and saw numerous persons with tents and the mobile home (shopping car). Some obviously mentally ill. Terrible waste of humanity…got to be a better way to help. What happens to the lottery money in this state???
 
Muskrat said:
What happens to the lottery money in this state???
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That's a question that I have asked myself many times.

I live in the NE part of Phoenix close to the 51. I know that for a few years many homeless people set up "camps" in the underpass part of the wash that goes under the 51. The city cleaned those areas up around a year ago and I see crews go in now and then to keep the tunnel clean. The city also removed a lot of the bench seating at the bus stops and converted them to single seats to prevent the homeless from sleeping on them which makes sense. It was unfair for those who do use the bus to have to stand in the heat while waiting for the bus.

I have read that more housing is being planned for those who are homeless and wish to improve their lives and I think a senior low income housing center opened up downtown so it's a start. But as you said, I do often wonder how that lottery money is spent. Part of it is suppose to go to human resources.
 
StarSong said:
I just checked my city's daily temps over the past twelve months: 15 days at 100° or higher, none at 110° or more. However, we've had heat spells in recent earlier years with beastly daily highs of 114° and up. Hoping for a mild 2024 summer.
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It strange but a 100° day in LA feels a lot hotter to me than a 100° in Phoenix. I think a lot of it is because it is more humid in LA area. One of the worse sunburns I ever got was on a cloudy day at the beach in San Diego !
 
It was late summer when I moved to Phoenix back in the late 80s or early 90s (the latter, I think)....just me & my kids. I found a cheap apartment in the Glendale area. I found out quick that Glendale is Phoenix's underbelly.

First day we were there, the movers arrived with everything except my sewing machine and the boys' bikes were stolen while we were inside setting up their beds. I never did locate the sewing machine and we never saw the bikes again, either.

On day 2 the boys came home from the pool with their shoulders burned black from the sun. Black. I'm not exaggerating. I'd never seen that before. (today, their shoulders are heavily freckled there; checked by a dermatologist 3 times in 3 years)

On day 3, my younger son was playing out in front of the apartment when some kid ran up and grabbed one of his GI Joes and ran off with it. Liam chased after him, but the kid was older and taller and had too good a lead on him.

After that, we never left anything outside, the kids played indoors, and there was no swimming after 3pm.

On day 4, my older son spotted the GI Joe thief and surreptitiously followed him home, and then told me his apartment number. I went and talked to the kid's mom, and got the Joe back. She was extremely unpleasant about it, but fortunately, the kid seemed like he was afraid of me. I didn't threaten him or anything of the sort, I just told him, firmly, to go to his room, get the GI Joe, bring it to me and we'd be done.

That wasn't the last of our problems there, but anyway, meanwhile, I looked for work and decent child care everywhere except the Glendale area.

Driving around Phoenix was miserable! The heat wasn't the main issue, it was the traffic, and waiting forever for the traffic lights to turn green, and mostly, everybody's pissy mood. Nobody seemed happy there. No one. Phoenix was like the City of Miserables.

I gave it 6 weeks and moved again. I'd passed an exam to start training at the police academy, but I was done, man. Pretty sure we moved to Nevada from there....yeah, to a little hamlet in the desert called Helm, if I remember right. It's on the outskirts of Vegas. Still hot, but the people were really pleasant.
 
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My friend is staying at my home in Florida and he texted me yesterday and told me the Gulf temperature is 90°. That's way too warm for this time of the year. I think normal temp of the Gulf where my home is located this time of the season is somewhere between 84-86°.

I think I am going to buy a new boat this summer. I miss having a boat since I sold my last one a few years ago.
 
oldman said:
My friend is staying at my home in Florida and he texted me yesterday and told me the Gulf temperature is 90°. That's way too warm for this time of the year. I think normal temp of the Gulf where my home is located this time of the season is somewhere between 84-86°.

I think I am going to buy a new boat this summer. I miss having a boat since I sold my last one a few years ago.
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And 90-F in Florida feels a lot hotter than 90.

I hope you get the boat. Sounds fun. Do you fish there?
 
MarkinPhx said:
It is a sad and troubling situation. Clearing out The Zone resulted in the homeless shelters filling up. There has been some housing being opened up, mainly vacant motels and hotels but not fast enough to keep up. I did read that Maricopa County is opening up more cooling stations for this summer.

One other problem with the heat is that a lot of people have moved into the area in the past 4 years and don't understand how fast the heat can kill. A few have died in the past few years while hiking the mountain parks during the peak times of the heat. Those who have lived in the Valley area long enough know to take walks or hikes early in the morning. Phoenix and the surrounding cities are now starting to close down the hiking trails when there are the extreme heat warnings.

When I was a kid it still did get hot of course but 110 degree days were not as common and the night time lows were much cooler. At that time there were many orange groves, farms and open desert land in the Valley. Such places no longer exists and have been replaced by homes, office buildings and pavement. It literally has become a "concrete jungle". As a kid, I always knew to get out of the pool around 5 pm because I knew that the odds were a thunderstorm was approaching. Those summer thunderstorms don't happen as often now but we do still get the dust storms.

I did watch a documentary on water use in the Phoenix area and was surprised that more water was used in the Phoenix area back in the 1950's than now mainly because of the farming in the area. And now that TSMC is building their factories in the area, the Feds are going to make sure that solutions are found should water shortages happen in the future.

Between October and around early June the weather is fine for the most part but mid June-Mid October it can get deadly.
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Pavement, especially blacktop, is just the worst.

I wonder why in the Midwest they tend to pave their city roads in cement, not blacktop. I came to the conclusion that maybe it's because the snow and cold make blacktop get potholes more easily? Cement deals with the cold better? But I don't know for sure.

But either of them, pavement or blacktop, are just awful in the desert. There are a few trees, very few, that can survive in such heat. One if the African Fern Tree and once they grow tall, they are quite good shade providers. African Fern Pine - Plant Care and Growing Guide - Gardening Den

Palm trees are OK, but the huge mistake cities always make is that they plant them far apart, often as lone individuals meant to be more decorative than shade-producing. But in the wild, palm trees grow close together and that way they can actually provide shade. They are a pain in the rear to trim though. City has to figure that cost in.

But Phoenix, yeah, I'd put it on my list of Cities to Fix First for the heat of climate change.

That is the problem with Boom Towns. Everybody is busy counting money brought by the newcomers but they never sit down and actually PLAN for all the negative repercussions. The 💲💲 blinds them.

The Jacaranda is another great shade tree that can survive in Phoenix. Jacaranda Tree In Phoenix Arizona

These city & county leaders need to turn into tree-huggers STAT.
 
I remember one summer in New York City, it was over 90° for about a month straight. During the summer of 1977 (August, I think), there was 5 straight days of over 100° temperature. the lowest was 101° and it peaked at 109°. I remember spending most of the time sitting in front of a fan drinking beer. In New York City, summer was the season I hated the most.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I heard! When I asked a Facebook friend how she was doing, she said she was fine except for the 110° weather. I asked her where she was at. For some reason I thought she was in NYC, but she's also in Phoenix I sure hope y'all don't suffer a power outage!
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A power outage in 110 to 120 degrees would be horrible, especially for the homeless. :(
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I heard! When I asked a Facebook friend how she was doing, she said she was fine except for the 110° weather. I asked her where she was at. For some reason I thought she was in NYC, but she's also in Phoenix I sure hope y'all don't suffer a power outage!
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If I lived out there I'd have a Motel Emergency Fund. If that power goes out for any length of time, I'd have to get myself to a motel.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Do you have air conditioning?
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Central A/C is in most homes, apartments, hotels,etc. A/C is the norm everywhere. The legislature passed a law last year stating that utility companies can't disconnect power for accounts that are delinquent between the months of June-October. This is because a senior woman died last summer after her power has been disconnected because she was behind her payments

The power grid holds up well here. We've had no brown out days or total breakdowns or the grid. Once in awhile neighborhoods power will go out because of the summer storms. Some of those storms can get intense when the hot air collides with the cool moist air coming from the mountains up north.

The biggest problem for those at home is when the AC unit goes out. Sometimes it can take a few days if it needs to be replaced. In those cases,I think most do go to a motel or crash at a friend's or relative's place. If the unit was under warranty then most companies will give vouchers to the family to stay at a motel or hotel.

In. my daily life, I relate it to as someone living in a place such as Toronto or Chicago in the winter time. I hunker up for a couple months out of the year and avoid the elements the best I can. That's what most of us do. Unfortunately, the homeless can't do the same. They often go to the city libraries to escape the heat during the day.

Utility bills can get expensive but most people use an equalizer plan. Utility cost are much cheaper outside of the summer. I rarely turn on the heat outside of maybe January. So the utility companies set up a plan to pay a set monthly amount each month based on the total cost of energy used for the past year.
 

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