Why you don't understand "But it's a dry heat!" in Phoenix, Arizona


I've lived in Phoenix, Arizona for a very long time, but I still remember growing up in Minneapolis, and I'm one of those people who says, "But it's a dry heat!" when it gets over 100 degrees in Phoenix. If that leaves you puzzled, and just sounds like nonsense, I'm glad for you. You have never experienced what 80 degrees and high humidity feels like. And I won't try to describe it, any more than I would try to explain what it feels like to get your fingers caught in a slammed car door. If you haven't experienced it, don't even think about it. But trust me, it's awful.

It's June 11th, 2021, and it just hit 101 degrees. I'm relaxing in a house with air conditioning, but I just stepped outside to water a couple of plants. It's a little after 4 pm, and my backyard will be shaded by the house in about an hour or so, by which time it will be probably be even hotter, but I find it wonderfully comfortable. It's a dry heat.

If there was a lot of humidity in the air, it would be unbearable to me, and if you've never experienced it (and I'm assuming you haven't) probably to you, too. The last thing you would want to do would be to go outside, even in the shade, even if it were twenty degrees cooler and humid. The humidity is what makes heat so awful. That's moisture in the air.

When someone like me says "dry heat" they are comparing it to humid heat. And when you mention that type of weather to someone like me, chances are they'll get a faraway look in their eye, and either try to force back the bad memories, or worse yet tell you about what it felt like. I promised you when I started writing this that I wouldn't try to describe it, so I won't.

Instead, I'm going to enjoy this evening. When the backyard is shady I'll open a cold one, and just enjoy the dry heat. I just love it here, Phoenix, Arizona.
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