It’s a Dry Heat: What’s the Deal with Low-Humidity in Arizona?

Next week, I’m heading to the Midwest, and I already know what’s coming. Temperatures that are typically lower than Arizona, but with something called a “Real Feel”.

What seems like sanity at 80 degrees is highly deceptive because the Real Feel is trying to jump outta your skin with oppressive humidity. My daughter always says we could get a straw and hydrate ourselves with the air alone.

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While temperatures have been in the 90s and 100s in Arizona for months now, I’ll take this over a place that reports both a thermometer reading and what it actually feels like.

READ MORE: What To Expect from Arizona's Summer Heat

The Famous Arizona Defense

For some reason, the Weather Channel and other national weather sites only seem to report the temperature in Phoenix. Everyone, everywhere thinks it’s 114 degrees in the entire state from June to September.

Yes, it can be hot here. Really hot. Arizona’s unofficial state slogan seems to be: “Yeah, but it’s a dry heat.”

The thermometer shows a very hot temperature.

Anyone who lives here knows that it doesn’t get much hotter than Phoenix (we don’t talk about Yuma, no, no, no).

The fact that most of Arizona is much cooler than Phoenix is a closely guarded secret, because if people really understood that it’s a dry heat is actually a good selling point, more folks might want to live here. So, don’t tell anyone that it’s mostly cooler everywhere else in Arizona, ok?

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It’s a Dry Heat

So, what does “it’s a dry heat” even mean? As funny as the phrase sounds, there’s real science behind it.

Humidity affects how efficiently sweat evaporates from your skin. When the air is dry, sweat evaporates faster, helping cool your body down. The CDC concurs: when humidity is high, sweat lingers on your skin, making conditions feel hotter and stickier.

READ: Visit These 7 Hidden Arizona Tourist Destinations

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Temperature vs. “Real Feel”

The National Weather Service calls this the heat index, or what the temperature actually feels like when humidity is factored in. For example, 96 degrees with 65% humidity can feel like 121 degrees. Gross.

That’s why a humid 90-degree day in the Midwest can feel more miserable than a dry 100-degree day in Arizona. We’re hot, sure—but not gross, sticky-hot.

man in blue denim shorts lying on yellow hammock

The Downside Of Desert Living

As much as I like to gloat about our almost complete lack of humidity, having air this dry isn’t perfect. That lack of moisture can turn your skin into sandpaper.

One day, a random lady in the grocery store turned to me and asked how we dealt with the unnaturally dry air. She was visiting from Iowa, she told me, and this air was causing her skin to flake off.

blue and white plastic bottle

“Really good hand and body lotion,” I told her. I gave her the names of three brands I swear by. “Oh, and use it repeatedly throughout the day. There’s no such thing as too much moisturizer.”

Most of us use hand lotion, body cream, lip balm, and eye drops year-round. Low humidity also increases the risk of dehydration because sweat evaporates so quickly we don’t always realize how much fluid we’re losing. That’s why we also have at least one, if not two, water bottles that we tote around everywhere.

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I’ll Take The Dry Heat

After a few days of Midwest stickiness, I know I’ll come home appreciating Arizona all over again. Give me extra lotion, a giant water bottle, and a blazing desert sunset over bird-sized mosquitoes and sticky, humid heat. Because when it comes to summer weather, I’ll happily take a dry 100 over a sticky 90 any day.