Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

For the past few weeks the temperature here has been hovering around the 105° mark (that's right about 40° celcius). Typically when out-of-towners ask about the weather, when we tell them the temperature, someone inevitably says "Well, at least it's a dry heat." I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean exactly. It's a dry heat inside my oven, too, but it's still hot.

So, last summer I spent about a week in Manhattan and then a few additional days in the Washington DC area in July. At the time, the temperatures were about 90° and the humidity was about 90%. I understand how miserable humid heat can be. While I was in Manhattan several people asked me if it was worse to be there in that humid heat than in Arizona's dry heat. The answer is: "I'm not sure."

While in Manhattan I walked a couple of miles every day from my Hotel to Central Park or to the subway or wherever. I even walked from my Hotel (about 54th street and 6th ave) to the Chrysler building (on accident) and then to the Empire State Building. That's a lot of walking. And it was miserable in the heat (though I would do it again in a heartbeat).

In Arizona I would never walk that far on purpose during the summer. Not too many people would. In fact, normal people here don't spend much time outside in the heat of the day. Unless you're at the pool, it's just bad -- and can be dangerous.

I prefer the dry heat. When I get out of the shower here, I can actually dry off. My chips and crackers stay crisp and we don't have mold or mildew problems. Make no mistake, though. It's hot.