It’s summer in Arizona. We typically see our monsoon season – and blessed rain, along with slightly cooler temperatures arrive July 1st-ish. Until then, we’re hot. On fire. And neither of those are metaphor or euphemism.
The photo at the top of the page was taken about 15 miles from here as the crow flies. It came from a local amateur photographer. It’s not photoshopped unless it’s to increase the color saturation. And it’s not the only fire burning across the state.
That specific blaze is called the Sawtooth Fire and is burning in the Superstition Mountains, covering parts of that area which escaped last year’s much larger fire. (Sorry, too tired to look up its name, much less remember it.) The only good thing is that we’ve already had a couple of rains this year. Here’s hoping for more, soon, and some that’ll stick around for a day or two.
Preferably without starting new lightning-caused fires.
Arizona’s summers are hellishly hot. Temperatures always hit 110ºF and stay there for weeks straight. We’ve topped 120ºF at least twice that I can remember. Winters are amazing – tee shirt weather. Shorts weather. But summers will kill you.
My car displays the outside temperature. Friday it showed 114. Yesterday it was “only” 111. If you’ve never been here, let me explain it for you. Turn on your oven and let it get hot. Now open the door and put your face into the open area for a minute. That’s exactly what it’s like when you step outside in 110º and up. There is no cool breeze, just a blast of heat.
Now imagine a wildfire on top of that.
I’d trade it all for never having to shovel snow again. Or rather, never having to watch my wife shovel snow again while I drink hot cocoa inside under a warm blankie.
Definitely no snow to shovel. And for most people no lawn to mow – a lot of us elect a desert landscape so we don’t have to mess with that. My husband does need to trim the Texas sage bushes, since they finally got big enough to need it. And he has to kill the weeds. But none of that takes much time and isn’t a constant thing.
I wouldn’t want those extremely hot temperatures. I’ll take Indiana weather that changes every day from summer to winter to spring to summer to winter to fall, etc.
I miss the summers back in that part of the country, where going outdoors isn’t a miserable experience. But I DON’T miss midwestern winters that freeze your face off!