No, I’m not talking about enthusiastic supporters of Bernie Sanders. Yesterday, the high was 112 degrees F in Phoenix. This temperature tied a record that was set on June 12, 1974. Today the high is supposed to be 111. Would you believe it gets even hotter than that? The all-time record high in Phoenix was 122 on June 26, 1990.

I group up in the midwest–Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. I despise cold weather. Here is how I like to compare the cold winters of the midwest to the hot summers of the southwest. During the winter when the wind chill is below zero, it doesn’t matter how bundled up you are. You will get cold when you go outside. Then when you get back inside, it can take you hours to warm back up again. In contrast, during the summer in the southwest, yes it’s very hot when you go outside and you will sweat. Once you get back inside with air conditioning, however, you are fine in a couple minutes.

Then there’s the age-old discussion of dry heat vs humid heat. I never understood the difference until I moved to Arizona by way of Texas. During the summer of 1999, I was at a training institute in Houston. The temperature reached the high 90’s and humidity was 100%. It was miserable. Every time you went outside you felt drenched. I felt this same experience in Orlando, Florida. Contrast this with Phoenix where the temperature can be over 100 but the humidity is around 10%. A dry heat feels different. When you sweat, the sweat actually evaporates off your skin providing you with the cooling effect. How does it feel? The next time you have your oven on, open the door and feel the blast of hot air hitting your face. That’s about right. I still wouldn’t trade it for bone-cold winters.