I have a pet peeve.
People say there are no seasons in Phoenix.
I’m here to tell you: they’re wrong.
Our high this summer was 117 or 118. There are often nights where, at 10:00, it’s still over 100 degrees. For weeks at a time, it doesn’t dip below 90 overnight.
Recently, we’ve had an influx of people who don’t live here in the summer. Snowbirds. You know why?
Because it’s hot in the summer and not hot in the winter.
Seasons.
The photo above? Not taken in the summer. Jeans? Light jacket? Probably spring.
Now, are the seasons here the same as other places? Absolutely not. (If they were, we wouldn’t have snowbirds…)
Here lately, it’s been “cold.” Highs are in the 70s or low 80s; overnight lows are in the 40s.
When you’ve adapted to 110, 50 is really cold. A month ago, it was still 100 sometimes.
So no, we don’t have leaves that turn, and the cooler weather takes a little longer to get here than other places. I mean, it stops being 110 some time in August or, if we’re unlucky, September, but it’s still 100 many days well into October.
It’s October every year that gets me. I see friends’ pictures from back east and they’re in coats and hats and I’m surprised. Every. Year.
But it’s cooler now. Pleasant in the afternoons. (I still wear a jacket or sweater if it’s 70 and I’m not directly in the sun.)
So. Stop telling me Phoenix doesn’t have seasons.
**It turns out, the Sonoran Desert actually has five seasons: autumn, winter, spring, dry summer, and wet summer. Makes sense, if you’ve lived here.