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Yeah Tucson is definitely a bit cooler and greener than Phoenix, but other areas are greener and cooler yet - again, all due to the elevation differences. Phoenix is at about 1,000 feet, Tucson at 2,400 or so, but Benson is at 3,600 and Sierra Vista is at 4,200, while Tombstone is at 4,500 and Bisbee is at 5,200. My property is similar to Sierra Vista at 4,200 feet and we get a much greater impact from the Monsoon season than Phoenix does, with average rainfall falling between 16-20 inches a year (17.5 last year) as opposed to the 8 inches or so that Phoenix typically gets. Now don't get me wrong, we're not tree-covered, but it's not barren either. Over the last 4 years we've also only averaged 3 days a year where it got above 100 - and the hottest day in that time was just 101.5. June & July averages have been 92 or so while August averages just 88 - and yet our January highs are still just a hair below 60. Pretty darned nice if you ask me.
While elevations vary a great deal even in SE Arizona, as a general rule the land slopes upwards as you move from Yuma (at 200 feet or so) over to the New Mexico border, so SE Arizona is often (not always) at pretty nice elevations.
Of course the down side for most people moving to Arizona is that there are few towns in this area and thus few jobs - hence all the movement to Phoenix (and to a lesser degree Tucson).
LB- it definitely sounds like you're in a nice spot. It all depends on what you're into, but the lack of proximity to mountains with skiing potential would be an issue for me where you are. Not to mention the lack of proximity to a major airport which could take me to somewhere that I could ski, if I wanted. But again, that's an individual preference.
You've brought up what I think is the single most relevant issue here, which is that for most people (myself included), the lack of gainful emplyment opportunities in your neck of the woods is a prohibitive factor in terms of living there. If you're looking to retire, or you can work from home, it might be an option I suppose. But there's certainly a reason that statistically about 90% of AZ's population is located in the metro Phoenix and Tucson areas, and that is the availability of jobs.
Yeah, we're pretty happy with our spot. Of course we won't be there for a few more years yet. It's really meant to be our retirement destination, but since I can work from anywhere (I'm in computing) we may move there a bit before that. Most people of course, don't have that option so yeah, lack of nearby jobs is the biggest drawback.
For us we certainly don't care about skiing and for an airport we have Tucson International - about 35 minutes away -which is not too bad. In any event, I think the spot will work out well for us - 4 minutes from the freeway - yet a quiet location, downtown of a major city (Tucson) 40 minutes away, a smaller town (Benson) 10 minutes away, and a mid-sized town (Sierra Vista) about the same distance.
I just have to take issue with this. What in the world is Denver doing in this comparison? I lived in the midwest, then moved to Denver, and let me tell you- NIGHT AND DAY. There is no comparison. Denver's weather is gorgeous- if you don't believe me, head over to the Denver site and read the reviews from midwest/northeast transplants to the Denver area, and see what I mean:
I lived both in Chicago and in Denver. I agree that Chicago's winters are worse but Denver's winters are just a step below Chicago's. Denver has MORE sunshine but that is about it. Denver gets blizzards, huge snowfall amounts and extreme cold.
Also, Denver has EVERY EXTREME weather you can imagine. EXTREME:
cold (-25F is the record - -40F with the windchill), heat (105F is the record, it hit 100F in Denver a couple times last year & it was in the upper 90's for weeks on end) wind (recorded straight line gusts of 75MPH in Denver- it is windier than Chicago), snow, thunderstorms, tornadoes (Weld County Colorado has the MOST tornadoes per any other county in the entire USA), hail (Denver has been called the "Hail Capital" of the USA - $625 million in damage back in 1990 - $50 million per year avg. hail damage in Denver), lightening (the Denver suburbs hold records for the most lightening strikes on people & property), etc, etc
How about this. One day it is 83F and sunny and within 15 hours, the winds gust to 50MPH and the temps drop to 30F and you get 5" of snow. I've experienced that more than once.
The point is that EVERYWHERE you go has issues/pros & cons. I for one, prefer the weather to be MORE predictable. In Denver, you can take your car out on a sunny day and then within hours, you are getting baseball sized hail that will TOTAL your car, break windows in your home, damage the siding and roof of your house. The next day a tornado will touch down.
At least in Phoenix one doesn't have to deal with each and EVERY extreme weather phenomena there is....Denver has EVERY EXTREME weather possible.Thanks, but no thanks...
I am moving from Southern Indiana to Phoenix in JULY (that's right...July...have no other choice because I am in education and that's the transition period).
The humidity and heat are awful here in Southern Indiana. I am sure the heat will be awful in Phoenix...why lie and pretend, "oh it's dry I will like it!" No. I won't. BUT...unlike here in Indiana where you are expected to go out and sit on the lake and drench in the humid weather, I suspect I will be in good company with other ppl in PHX who don't mind staying indoors with A/C. What do I do in the summer? Same things I do the rest of the year...go to a lot of movies at movie theatres (AC); hang out at Borders and B&N (AC); eat at restaurants (AC unless al fresco or hole-in-the-wall dives, which can be fun); visit museums (AC); read at home or watch TV (AC). I don't know how the heat will affect my life any more negatively than I currently react to it in Indiana...it's as one of my friends said, "at least you'll be around people who understand your love of air conditioning!"I have to sleep with fans/AC on for white noise.
I would rather it be COLD in my apartment and HOT outside than have it be HOT in my apartment when it's COLD oustide (most of the winter/spring here in IN). This past weekend, it was in the high 40s, rainy, cool, and dreary. I cannot deal with the cloudy, gloomy, dreary sky we have for most of the winter and a good portion of the fall and spring. In Indiana, recently, it seems as if it dramatically transitions from winter to summer with little time for spring or fall, respectively.
Having said all of that ranting, what DO people do for
- tinting their windows (price? business? when? it's illegal in IN)
- cracking windows/avoiding carjacking
- taking car of batteries
- having the dashboard break - how common is that?
I am moving from Southern Indiana to Phoenix in JULY (that's right...July...have no other choice because I am in education and that's the transition period).
The humidity and heat are awful here in Southern Indiana. I am sure the heat will be awful in Phoenix...why lie and pretend, "oh it's dry I will like it!" No. I won't. BUT...unlike here in Indiana where you are expected to go out and sit on the lake and drench in the humid weather, I suspect I will be in good company with other ppl in PHX who don't mind staying indoors with A/C. What do I do in the summer? Same things I do the rest of the year...go to a lot of movies at movie theatres (AC); hang out at Borders and B&N (AC); eat at restaurants (AC unless al fresco or hole-in-the-wall dives, which can be fun); visit museums (AC); read at home or watch TV (AC). I don't know how the heat will affect my life any more negatively than I currently react to it in Indiana...it's as one of my friends said, "at least you'll be around people who understand your love of air conditioning!"I have to sleep with fans/AC on for white noise.
I would rather it be COLD in my apartment and HOT outside than have it be HOT in my apartment when it's COLD oustide (most of the winter/spring here in IN). This past weekend, it was in the high 40s, rainy, cool, and dreary. I cannot deal with the cloudy, gloomy, dreary sky we have for most of the winter and a good portion of the fall and spring. In Indiana, recently, it seems as if it dramatically transitions from winter to summer with little time for spring or fall, respectively.
Having said all of that ranting, what DO people do for
- tinting their windows (price? business? when? it's illegal in IN)
- cracking windows/avoiding carjacking
- taking car of batteries
- having the dashboard break - how common is that?
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Having been to your part of the country, I can tell you that this heat will make you laugh. Yeah its hot, but so what. Indiana is just miserable beyond miserable. And then its freaken cold. Enjoy your time here. You just found Paridise.
Couple hundred bucks to tint the windows. Get the good stuff (metallic).
Nobody is going to car jack you if you crack your windows. Geez... This ain't Chicago.
Plan on replacing the battery every two years. Get a good one with a good warranty so you've got some prorated value in it.
I haven't seen a cracked dashboard in 10 years at least. That happened on the old foam padded ones. If you're worried about it and to cut glare you can get a "Dashmat". Treat plastic items and tires with "303" - not Armorall which ruins them.
Couple hundred bucks to tint the windows. Get the good stuff (metallic).
Nobody is going to car jack you if you crack your windows. Geez... This ain't Chicago.
Plan on replacing the battery every two years. Get a good one with a good warranty so you've got some prorated value in it.
I haven't seen a cracked dashboard in 10 years at least. That happened on the old foam padded ones. If you're worried about it and to cut glare you can get a "Dashmat". Treat plastic items and tires with "303" - not Armorall which ruins them.
Ponderosa - you rock! Thanks for answering my questions without lecturing me, as happens from time to time when I poste naieve questions on here
As for the carjacking thing, I only state that because everyone seems to LOVE to scare me by taking a bet on how long it will take for my car to get stolen in Phoenix. A lot of my friends who live in downtown Chicago (Wicker Park) use the Club. When I stayed in PHX last month, I never felt my car was at risk for grand theft auto...then again, who does until it happens?
...Indiana is just miserable beyond miserable. And then its freaken cold.
HAHAHA...love it...should be our new state slogan here in IN...don't get me wrong, I am a Hoosier through and through and will never change (taking boy out of country thing...) but I am done with the Midwest for a while...I need a break, a change of pace (preferably more hectic...yes...I welcome the frenzy of driving on the 101 during rush hour...only live once, right?)
And speaking of humidity, the monsoon season's another nice little surprise for any folks moving to AZ. The storms are generally nasty, noisy, late-night dust blizzards, and actually provide little relief at all in the form of moisture- at least not in Phoenix. I hear Tucson gets a little more real precipitation out of the storms.
Tucson gets more than "a little more" precipitation that Phoenix during the monsoon. Last year Phoenix got .36" of rain during the monsoon, while Tucson picked up more than 6.25" of rain. In the desert, that's a substantial difference. I was in Tucson for a good chunk of last summer. Trust me, when it rained, it POURED. Some places in the mountains just outside of Tucson got almost 2 FEET of rain during the monsoon.
The tradeoff with the lack of rain in Phoenix, is that I noticed the humidity tended to be a lot lower during the monsoon than Tucson. There were several times in Tucson where the dew point got as high as 73 or 74 degrees (60 degrees in considered uncomfortably humid by most). That, combined with temperature between 85-100 most days reminded me of my childhood in Miami.
There is truly no escape from the heat within the populated urban centers of Arizona.
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