It's been a scorcher this week and not just Arizona. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8358117/Temperatures-expected-reach-record-highs-week-heatwave-hits-southwest.html For Tucson though it is not 20ºF over normal for this time of year. Maybe 10 though.
Our first time to experience a Tucson summer was in 1966. We lived in an apartment off of Silverbell Road. It had only a swamp cooler (evaporative cooler), which is very ineffective whenever the humidity rises. I was heavily pregnant and did not enjoy the way it sapped my energy with the heat of the day. The complex though had a swimming pool and in the late afternoon or evenings, we used it. We did not have a car with air conditioning, which meant you did most things when the sun hadn't risen or had gone down.
These days, with a house, where we installed a/c after we bought it, we have a few tricks to help. One is opening up the windows as soon as it cools off enough, which when the temperatures are over 100ºF, that time doesn't come until maybe 4am
We close everything then when the first warmth arrives, maybe 9am. We bought a fan and get that going which has lets us not use the air conditioning until around 1pm. We try to adjust ourselves to warmer home temps to get used to what will be coming in June.
Thank goodness we decided to put better windows in this year and thank goodness my brother was able to help Paul with some of them when he visited. Those windows make all the difference in less need for the A/C.
Then outside, last year, we bought misters for the patio. We can sit out there when it's even 100 with them going as they make it feel cooler.
We ordered, but it won't get here until June, a small room a/c unit as backup in case our a/c goes out and there isn't anybody who can fix it right away. Also in this area, there is always the possibility of rolling brownouts when it gets like hot. Then it's the pool and showers-- lots of them :)
Paul has also been looking into the possibility of a different coating for the roof. The walls have no options as they are slump block, and it's actually pretty good.
4 comments:
Actually I have fond memories of how a dip in the warm pool refreshed for a few minutes when we used to live at the same apartment complex in 1966.
Me too. Lots of fun but in the apartment, when I was so pregnant-- not so fun lol
I turned on the AC yesterday. I usually am able to get by through all of May and into June, but it just got to clammy. This week we are back down into the 70s so the AC should not kick on much.
It is really good for reducing humidity and one of its many pluses.
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