Watching Winter Blanket the US – or How We Laugh in Arizona

• How to survive winter in Arizona.
• When the rest of the country laughed at 100+ degree summer weather, they forgot our winter is better here.
• How we try to make do in the deep winter of Arizona.

How to Survive Winter in Arizona: Hint, It's Not That Hard

Remember June and July when the rest of the country pointed and laughed at Arizona? They sneered, "How can you live in 100-degree heat every day? That's crazy!"

Well, this is how.

As we laugh in our sassy Arizona font, the rest of the country is currently digging out of feet of snow. I had a conversation with a friend who lives back East*. She told me she had to shovel her driveway out twice in one day.

That was the same day I went to the Farmer's Market. While talking to a few vendors who'd opted to skip the EZ-Up, I began to worry if I was getting a sunburn. The 70-plus-degree weather was toastier than I'd expected.

See Also: Phoenix Sets New Record for 100-Degree Days

Contrast By Degrees: Arizona vs. "Back East"

First of all, let’s talk about the weather.

I just checked. Today in Phoenix, the high will be about 76, with a low temperature of around 52 degrees. Cochise County will be a little less warm. Grab your sweater because it'll only be 72 today.

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., the nation’s capital, it’s a frigid 31 degrees, with a low of 22 and a 95% chance of precipitation. As I write this, there's even a winter weather advisory warning of 2 to 4 inches of snow, slippery road conditions, and hazardous travel.

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Ouch. That doesn't sound like my idea of fun.

Trying Not to Laugh in Arizona

I think the Germans express this feeling best with the word Schadenfreude. Wikipedia explains that this word literally means harm-joy.

Schadenfreude is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, pain, or humiliation of another.

Oof. When you put it that way, it sounds so harsh. Seriously, though, I'll take 100-degree heat over -10 below zero temperatures any time of the year.

But Yeah, We're Laughing in Arizona

To put it another way, this is essentially how we laugh in Arizona. 

When our relatives back east* in Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Minneapolis complain about lake-effect snow, we don our flip-flops, grab our sunscreen, and take pictures of the clear, beautiful mountains so we're ready to gloat on our social media pages.

Just to prove it really is better in Arizona.

*Back East = Anywhere East of the Mississippi as defined by Val.