I was in Tempe/Phoenix region during the peak of summer (August I remember). It was 115°F+ everyday. Even after dinner, when I wanted to stroll around outside the mall near ASU, it was 90°F. It was insane how hot it was. I’ve lived in Houston and the heat was not even that high. But Phoenix has almost zero humidity in the summer which makes the heat a lot more bearable comparing to the sauna in Houston. Anyway, would not go there during summer again!
testing22321 7 minutes ago [-]
The amount of concrete and lack of green cover is a major problem.
We’re currently away from home in a city that has waaaay more concrete than where we live and the temperature increase is horrible, even when the reported temperature is the same.
The US has built horrible cities for a couple of generations now. The incoming increase it temps will hopefully force them to redesign ie the tree plan for NYC
anigbrowl 18 minutes ago [-]
Non-trash local source with actual photographs instead of AI-generated imagery
Does anyone have any real photos of the reflective asphalt?
evanjrowley 4 hours ago [-]
>but pedestrians faced higher radiant heat
As would vehicles.
Phoenix is the hottest city I've ever visited. The people were great, but I struggle to imagine why anyone would want to live there, let alone build semiconductor factories in an area already short on water supply.
3eb7988a1663 30 minutes ago [-]
This is something that I fail to understand - why are there so many people there? Is there unobtainium in the hills that can only be mined from the region? Prior to modern air conditioning, why would people setup there when there are seemingly more hospitable areas?
Retric 22 minutes ago [-]
People did prefer living in colder areas before AC.
The arrival of AC meant there was suddenly a lot of very cheap land around cities that are extremely unpleasant without AC. This resulted in migration and a housing boom which drives up the economy attracting more people.
3eb7988a1663 17 minutes ago [-]
Sure enough, Wikipedia says the population in 1940 was only 65k (which is still too many, but whatever). I would still assume that AC installation was very uneven and a luxury at the time.
altairprime 21 minutes ago [-]
Suburbia requires land and desert land is very cheap when market-priced, so long as the true costs of drinking and lawn grass watering for the land are externalized. Unfortunately, that leaves the region exposed to the Colorado watershed collapse and associated “which metropolis gets the axe” politics:
(I suspect the interstate highway system also contributed to migrations, but haven’t done the research.)
anigbrowl 17 minutes ago [-]
Large silver and turquoise mines, basically.
estearum 15 minutes ago [-]
Cheap land
MarkusQ 19 minutes ago [-]
Having walked on it, it really doesn't feel any hotter than the sidewalks. And in the morning and evening (only time it really makes sense to go walking there most of the year) it's significantly nicer than the asphalt.
ajb 38 minutes ago [-]
The only person I know that lived near there had fibromyalgia, and had deliberately moved there from NY as they felt better in that climate. So YMMV I guess. They didn't actually live in phoenix, don't know how much difference that made.
bediger4000 4 hours ago [-]
Can confirm the heat. In the early 1990s I got bumped from a flight out of Phoenix because it was so hot the density altitude meant they couldn't load the plane as heavily as usual.
Rendered at 20:36:32 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/comments/14o5bdu/a_comparis...
We’re currently away from home in a city that has waaaay more concrete than where we live and the temperature increase is horrible, even when the reported temperature is the same.
The US has built horrible cities for a couple of generations now. The incoming increase it temps will hopefully force them to redesign ie the tree plan for NYC
https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/arizona/phoenix-to...
As would vehicles.
Phoenix is the hottest city I've ever visited. The people were great, but I struggle to imagine why anyone would want to live there, let alone build semiconductor factories in an area already short on water supply.
The arrival of AC meant there was suddenly a lot of very cheap land around cities that are extremely unpleasant without AC. This resulted in migration and a housing boom which drives up the economy attracting more people.
America’s desert metropolis Is on the short list to lose water (6 hours ago) https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/23/us/arizona-canals-colorad...
(I suspect the interstate highway system also contributed to migrations, but haven’t done the research.)