When I first moved to AZ (specifically, the Phoenix area) someone erroneously told me that it never gets under 70 degrees, even in the dead of winter... but from more reliable sources, and the latest weather patterns, I discovered that it gets COLD here, for real.
It's been rainy and cold for the last several days, and today is sunny but will only get up to a high of 61. I guess it's silly to say that 61 is cold, but for one thing, the warmest part of the day is usually 3 or 4 in the afternoon, so for the vast majority of the day it's in the 40s and 50s. And when there's no cloud cover or anything on the ground to hold in the sun's heat, it's chilly. Seriously.
Another way of looking at this (if you are still skeptical that even weather in the 40s and 50s is cold) is that 4 months ago, it was 55 degrees hotter than 61 - yes, that's right. Each day was around 116 degrees. No joke. In 4 months the temperature has dropped 55 degrees. This is astounding to me, given that I was raised in an area that is (for the most part) between 60 and 75 degrees all year long.
By the way, I'm so glad that Arizona doesn't wind its clocks back like the rest of the country. It occurred to me that if we did, "nighttime" would start at 4:30 in the afternoon! (Wait, is that right?)
Anyway, I'm warming up (and nursing my hangover) with some Peet's, and watching (guilt-free) this, this and this, saved on my TiVo. Thank you, winter break!
2 comments:
Yes, night would start at 4:30. I'm living that hell right now. By 8 pm it feels like 11 because it's been dark for so long already.
You'll get a lot of lightning in the desert too, right?
I haven't noticed any lightning lately (thunder sometimes) - I think most of the lightning storms usually happen in August during the monsoon season. But maybe in the winter too? Not sure...
I thought Portland stayed lighter later? I guess during the spring and summer only? Wowsa. I still can't wait: you know, the upside of the sun going down at 4:30 is that you can legitimately start drinking earlier, yes? Is that how that works?
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