The year end synopsis of Phoenix weather in Monday’s Arizona Republic was spot on. More heat, less rain, more dust, wildfires and growing hotter by the year. Comparing daytime and especially nighttime heat to other years, or what we call normal, is not a deviation, it is the new normal.
The high nighttime temperatures are perhaps the most pernicious and injurious of all effects. When the nights stay warm, the daytime temperatures are higher because they start the day at a higher level. The lack of adequate nighttime relief from unhealthful heat also has negative effects on physical and mental health. So here is what has always puzzled me about Arizona leadership. Why is there giddy cheering and “happy dances” every time they have managed to enable another square mile of desert to be covered with more pavement and concrete?
They look like a bunch of disoriented teenagers at a pep rally cheering the opposing team. Do they get it? Why isn’t mitigation of the nighttime heating trend a top priority? They are going to pave and build us out of habitability at some point. I hope for them they are not doing their happy dance in bare feet, or they’ll end up with third degree burns…