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I live in Tucson, Arizona down in the southwest corner of the US. Tucson's climate is that of a desert in with a total yearly rainfall of around 11 inches. Cactus thrive and the trees are generally small and shrub like. The dirt is a light tan color and blows around quite easily with the wind which comes during pressure changes in the weather (shifts from highs to lows). Green colors stick out like a sore thumb but are more present here in Tucson then other deserts. We have 9000 foot mountains surrounding every direction with tall trees on top but from the valley below then just look like green patch work. The temperatures are hot and dry during the summer and mild during the winters. During the driest parts of the year, late June and early July the temperatures peak into the low 100's quite frequently and then drop down to the 70's during the night. Rains usually come twice a year but also intermittenly during the rest of the year. Winter and Summer bring the monsoons. This means it rains like cats and dogs almost every evening during monsoons during the summer like clock work and flash floods occur due to the soil's non ability to hold much water. Sort of like dumping water on a car with a fresh wax job. The winter rains are not quite so intense but bring steady rains for hours at a time in smaller quanity. Most of the time like more then 300 days a year we have abundant sunshine. Generally speaking the sun shines more often then not and the weather is not really an issue for day to day outside activities. The temperatures are also not that bad in the sense the dry heat makes it bearable and the winter cold spell is only at night meaning during the day even in the middle of December and January the mid day temperatures reach high 60's!
I take advantage of the weather almost daily in that I enjoy running long distance. I spend many hours outdoors running the beautiful NE corner of Tucson. Here two mountain ranges one running east/west and the other north/south form a corner and I live in the inside part. This gives me nice scenes during my runs and I never get borded with the views. The animal wildlife even out here is plentiful and I usually see coyotes, bobcats, quail, hawks, lizards, snakes, and such on all my every other day runs. The dry air helps cool you like a personal A/C unit in that the sweat evaporates and cools via that process. The front of my shirt is bone dry and starch like from sweat and the back side is slightly damp. The sweat from my foothead usually drys into a white salt stream down the sides of my face. I even run during the winter too. The hotest days meaning above 105 can get to me once in a while but if I keep the runs short 2 hours or so I will not need water. When I do run when the temps are over 100 for runs longer then 2 hours I need to bring hydration otherwise I will slow too much and my body bonks easier. My favorite time of the year is the hottest time. The worst time to run is during the monsoons. I usually keep away from thunder bolts but have had some close calls in the past. The weather comes in quick and the bolts usually proceed the thunder heads just a bit meaning it can be dry no rain in one place but a few hundred feet it can be pouring with lightening strikes. |
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