It was hot. I traveled to Phoenix, Ariz. last week to attend a newspaper meeting, and it was darned hot — 98 degrees when I arrived Thursday afternoon, in the upper 90s the other days.

I read that the average high in Phoenix in April is in the 80s, so perhaps it was climate change or global warming or I just was unlucky to be there when it was hotter than normal.

On the Intellicast website offering information about Phoenix’s historic weather, I read that the record high in April was in 1992 when it was 105 degrees.

The hottest days in Phoenix were 121 degrees in 1995 in July and even hotter in 1990 in June when it hit 122 degrees.

I was out there in June or July a couple of years ago when it was super hot. I think it was more than 110 one evening at 6:30. When you stepped outside, it kind of took your breath away.

I remember thinking, I can’t wait to get home to Louisiana where it’s cooler — not something we’d say often about our summer weather.

It’s no surprise to report how dry it is in Phoenix.

On that same website I saw that the average precipitation for Phoenix for each month historically is less than an inch of rainfall total in every month except March when the average is just 1.07 inches.

The 11 other months all average less than one inch of precipitation.

June is Phoenix’s driest month with just .09 inches of precipitation. May is the second driest month with .16 inches of rainfall.

Surprising to me, July and August are relatively wet months for Phoenix, with July averaging .99 inches and August averaging .94 inches of rain.

For comparison I found some U.S. Climate data about weather in New Iberia.

While Phoenix’s driest month is June, that’s our wettest month with an average rainfall of 6.89 inches.

That’s more rainfall in one month than Phoenix gets in the total of its wettest six months.

New Iberia averages 6.65 inches of rain in July, so in our two wettest months we have way more rain on average than Phoenix gets in a year.

March was Phoenix’s wettest month with just a bit more than an inch of rain, but March is New Iberia’s driest month with 3.78 inches of rain on average.

Think about Phoenix’s driest month, with just .16 inches of rain. On a good hot, humid day in New Iberia in July or August, we can get that much moisture on us just walking out to get the paper.

•

Help us pick the “Best of the Teche” and recognize businesses and individual service providers who you think are the best at what they do.

Voting for Best of the Teche starts Sunday. You can vote any day online at our website at www.iberianet.com. We’ll also include the Best of the Teche ballots in the paper starting next week, so you can vote for your favorites.

Submitting a ballot enters you into a drawing for a $250, $150 or $50 gift certificate from your choice of our Best of the Teche sponsors, but even more importantly, it helps us make sure the local “best” get recognized.

 

WILL CHAPMAN is publisher of The Daily Iberian.