Does Arizona Get Hot?

So Wednesday is the first day that I've ever seen an extreme heat warning advisory on the weather channel. But we have one. And surprisingly I'm a little excited in addition to being apprehensive. I do wonder if I'll be able to handle it but I hesitate to say that I think I can. Anyone who is from Arizona, has visited Arizona in the summer, or has even seen it on a map feels an obligation to warn me of the heat in Arizona. When I explain that I understand how hot it gets they feel the need to reiterate just how hot. And no matter how many times I've explained that everyone who knows that I'm new to the state has given me that exact information, they seem sure that I just don't understand the gravity of how hot it can get.

Now, I know that I am not a true Arizonian just yet. It's still June and besides the fact that the heat is just starting, I haven't even seen a scorpion or a cactus up close. But the idea of extreme heat is not foreign to me. I lived in St. George, UT for awhile, including the summer. It definitely got to be over 100 degrees and I know, I know, it isn't like Mesa, but any temperature over 100 degrees is pretty extreme. And I survived that and even flourished a little in it.

I think people must think that anyone who previously lived in a snowy and cold area like Colorado Springs, CO couldn't possibly understand what it means to have to stay inside their homes because of extreme weather. Now before anyone from Minnesota or Chicago or any other ridiculously cold area wants to tell me that I don't know what cold is, yes, I'm aware. But my snot has still frozen in Colorado. I've endured snow storms that have shut the city down, even if just for a night or two. I've had to make a run from my front door to my car so I could get away from the offensive cold just as Arizonians make a run to their car to get out of the heat. Here's the difference. While running in Arizona, you don't potentially hit a patch of black ice and slam on your butt on the way to the car. You don't have to trudge through 2-3 feet of snow because your apartment complex didn't think to put a sidewalk from your stairs to the parking lot. You don't potentially break through what you thought was solid ice and freeze your foot in a puddle. And after successfully, or unsuccessfully depending on what you endured, you don't have to then scrap ice off your windshield. Ice that is impossible to remove as a freshly picked booger you're trying to flick off your finger. Once inside the car I imagine it might take a while to cool a hot car down just as it takes some time to heat a cold car up. In Colorado though, you have to hope that your defrost will work quick enough to make sure all your hard ice scraping work wasn't in vain, and usually it was pointless. Then comes the joy of navigating the icey roads and worse than that, the other drivers on the roads who don't know how to drive on the ice.

In Colorado Springs I spent a good amount of time in my apartment avoiding the weather. The difference now is that there is a lot less work involved when I do have to venture out. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but I'm also trying to convey to everyone that I GET IT. It's hot. Thank you for the information. I think I'll stay here for awhile anyway.