Arizona climate

[Jade Divine]

I live in the northeast US and the cold wet winters and humid summers are getting harder to live through.

My husband and I are planning on taking our chances & moving to az -- I hear success reports of people feeling so much better in the drier and warmer climate.

I am asking for any experiences living in the drier climates.

Thanks!!

Jade

[pjsSissy70]

I lived in AZ for a year and although there is no humidity, the heat was a killer. I would melt all the time except for night time, it gets so nice and cool. I couldnt handle the straight heat, so we moved back to IL, couldnt handle the brutal winters, so we moved to TN where the winters are so mild. So, we found the perfect weather for me. Hopefully you will find your perfect weather too

[Redwings]

Hi Jade:
There's a saying: it ain't the heat, it's the humidity. And that's true, up to a point. At some point, the heat becomes unbearable, too. If you consider 117 degrees to be "warm," you might like the lower, drier, "warmer" parts of Arizona in the summer. When you're indoors in air conditioning nearly 24/7 for months at a time, the humidity doesn't really matter much. I live in Southern California, and the only thing that makes the 100-degree, 7%-humidity days bearable is that, where I live, they happen only a few days a year.

What parts of Arizona did you have in mind? There are several posters here who live in the Phoenix area and can tell you what conditions there are like.

[onlyairfare]

There is a lot more to Arizona than Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun!

More than half of Arizona is at an altitude of 4,000 feet or greater, and as soon as you get to significant altitude you'll find much cooler temperatures.

I've been in Flagstaff, Arizona (near the Grand Canyon) most of the past two years at an altitude of about 7,000 feet. Sunny more than 300 days per year, low humidity, still pretty green because of considerable snow. Definitely 4 seasons but with the sun it just doesn't seem as cold in the winter, and with the altitude, it does not get so hot in the summer - typically 70's or sometimes 80's in the daytime but dropping into the 50's at night.

I've lived in various locations and think this is probably the best for me. Formerly of western Washington State, I got tired of the gray days, though the cool temps and rare snow were welcome. Colorado was too cold in the winter, too hot in the summer. East Coast (WV, VA, DC, NY, FL), I couldn't tolerate the heat and humidity in the summer; when I've visited the mid-west it was worse. I visit friends who live "down in the Valley" (Phoenix) and the over-100 temps are for the birds! I couldn't live there.

By the way Jade, we weren't really planning to move to Arizona, as my husband had taken a job in western North Carolina. Living in the Blue Ridge Mountains wasn't as hot as most of the rest of the East Coast, but turned out my husband didn't like his new job there after all. I got a temp job in AZ and now we like it and likely will stay!

[LA8490]

Jade Divine...What part of Arizona are you thinking about, I

can only tell you about Tucson, been here almost 11 years

and it gets very very hot in summer, many days it can be

anywhere from 100-112 or more. Also I'm sure most

people don't realize that we do get humid during our

monsoon season, however I'm from New Jersey and I still

don't think that even during monsoon it's as humid here as

it is there. I personally don't like our summers, which are

about 6 months long, but if I had to choose between the

northeast and here I would definitely choose here. Hope

this helps. If you have any questions feel free to ask me.

Lynn.

[Jade Divine]

Thanks everyone for the input. All of those places sound way better than where I am now.

We have actually been trying to decide actually between northern arizona or southern california.

Redwings, in which part of southern california do you live?