How Hot is Hot--Arizona?
 

We will be driving in Arizona/Utah/LV the first week of August. I know it will be HOT! My question is about things to bring in the car. Will the heat melt/ruin a CD or DVD if left in the parked car? How about a Sirrius radio? I figured someone more familiar with this kind of heat would know the answer. Thanks.

The inside of your car can easily get above 120 degrees and in some cases as high as 140.

Maybe this will answer your question

Welcome to Arizona
June 5th:

Just moved to Arizona! Now this is a state that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! It is beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here.

June 14th:

Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper.

June 30th:

Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing lawns for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th:

The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least, it's kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.

July 15th:

Fell asleep by the community pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60 percent of my body. Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.

July 20th:

I missed Tiger (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Tiger had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water balloon. The car now smells like Kibbles and $h!ts. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat. Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again.

July 25th:

The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it's hot as heII. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 30th:
Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and I can't even go inside. Tiger is the lucky one. Why did I ever come here?

Aug. 4th:

It's 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.

Aug. 8th:

If another wise a$$ cracks, 'Hot enough for you today?' I'm going to strangle him. Dang heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!

Aug. 9th:
Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when I sat on the seat in the car, I thought my a$$ was on fire. My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and a$$. Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried a$$, and baked cat.

Aug 10th:

The weather report might as well be a danged recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do $h!t for 2 dang months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this dang desert? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can't live in this dang heat.

Aug. 14th:

Welcome to HELL! Temperature got to 115 today. Cactus are dead. Forgot to crack the window and blew the dang windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix it and said, "Hot enough for you today?"

Aug. 15th:

My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Arizona. What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here?!? Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.




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We were in Bullhead City, AZ mid-July. My sister brought in an apple that had baked in the car. I think the cd's will be okay if they aren't in direct sun. Buy a sunscreen for both the front and back windows. Cover your steering wheel with a towel if you don't use a screen, otherwise it gets so hot you have to drive with your fingertips. Same with the gearshift and watch out for those seatbelts!

Don't forget sunscreen for yourself too. I've gotten sunburned several times while driving through AZ.

Thank you, aileen679! Enjoyed the laugh since it's TRUE!

I have heard of CDs melting and warping inside the player.
In addn' to covering the steering wheel, I prefer to turn it half way when I park, so that it is upside down. I use a reflector in the windshield.

Radios don't melt. Yours aren't the only cars that reach those temps. They test electronics for such things. I prefer to remove everything that can be removed.

Well, It may be hot in Arizona, but it is hot as hel_ here in VA!!! It has been 100+ every day with 100 percent humidity. It is predicted to be 100 degrees for the next several days. So, it is hot everywhere this year!
I have been in AZ when it was 107. it is hot. Even without the humidity, it felt like I was putting my head in the oven....

Ah but don't you know it is a dry heat so it isn't near as bad as only 90 degrees somewhere else that has high humidity...right! Sounds like some blurb that the Chamber of Commerce fabricated. If you think the heat in Arizona does not impact those that live there read the recent news accounts and count the number of dead people.

Wow great post SORRY about Tiger ! I lived in Az for almost ten years and actually you will get used to the heat .I think youre luck will change and things will get better for you ( i hope ) YES THINGS WILL MELT CDS LIPSTICKS PENS AND LIGHTERS EXPLODE .cover interior of car as best you can good luck Cheriberry

Eileen
That was funny! Thanks for typing!

we were just out there the week of july 17th...and its hot!! the days averaged 113-155 . just stay out of the sun during the hottest (hahahha) part of the day and make sure to take water with you wherever you go. we left a crack in the windows just so the poor car wouldnt melt..but we had a great time and thought it was one of the most beautiful states we'd ever seen

dry heat...humid heat..hot is hot is hot is hot....im from atlanta and i know all about humidity, but i still think 115 is hot regardless of what "kind" of heat it is.

113-155???
This must be a typo even in Death Valley it rarely gets above 125.

definately a type--my bad--the temps were 113-115

eileen- you post was hilarious!!
Easy for me to laugh- I live in Oregon-
weather has been wonderful - hasnt hit 100 yet this summer- think the high for today is supposed to be 93- low 55
Come and visit-

My most dear aunt passed two years ago, but until 2003, I was going to Bullhead City, AZ for her about every 3 to 5 months.

Can you believe that I had the rear view mirror melt right down the front windshield on the rental car? And when I did go for walks, people would look at me like I was crazy.

Desert with these temperatures to me is exactly like hell.

Chicago this week was bad. After the Sox game Sunday (104 degrees and the car had been left in the treeless lot for 5 hours) we couldn't get back into the car, even with reflectors and all in use. We had to open everything and wait about 10 minutes. You couldn't breathe in there.

Thank you for the HAHA aileen. Just sent it to a friend that lives in AZ for his "amusement"...

Aileen - I loved your post...very funny! I liked the part about the hot seat-can't even count the times I almost burned the backs of my legs!
I grew up in Arizona when we didn't even have AC, only swamp coolers. Don't know how we did it! This has been a bad summer-even my parents are complaining and they have lived in Arizona their whole life.

I wouldn't leave anything in my car especially if it's in direct sunlight.

JJ5 - "Desert with these temperatures to me is exactly like hell. "
But a bizzare and wonderful hell.
I grew up out there and never appreciated it until I moved away. Now I'm afraid all the new deveopment is going to ruin that hell. The lights from Laughlin are too bright and obscure the beautiful stars at night. I'm most afraid of the smog that comes with the population growth. Have you seen Las Vegas? There is a constant cloud of brown over it. I don't want that to happen to the Mojave Desert.
And to owrp - we laugh now how many times we said "holy s---" every time we opened a door to the outside. The heat hits you like a solid object.

Thanks for the helpful responses. aileen679-Very funny! But you can't scare me away. I'm so looking forward to this trip. We leave tomorrow. The current 98 degrees that we have in NJ is just easing me into what's in store!

I've read that leaving a digital camera
in a hot car/trunk can ruin it - I've had ink pens left on dashboards that could be twisted around your finger...
But my final comment is, and I'm definitely sticking to it (no pun intended!) - "It still beats -40 & snow up to your ???!!!"

Eileen your post was hillarious!!!! RE-read it in January while you are in your shorts and it will be even funnier. I think you adapt to the heat just like people in Seattle adapt to the rain. Just think it will only really last for another 2 - 2 1/2 months ;)

You know you are in Arizona when:
1. You think 6 tons of crushed rock makes a beautiful yard.
2. You notice your car overheats before you drive it.
3. You know a swamp cooler is not a happy hour drink.
4. Vehicles with open windows have the right of way.
5. You think someone driving, wearing oven mitts, is clever.
6. You can make sun tea instantly.
7. People with black cars or upholstery are from out of town.
8. The water from the hot and cold tap are the same temperature.
9. You run your a/c in the middle of the day so you can show off your fireplace.
10. You discover that you CAN drive using just 2 fingers.
11. People show up wearing sweaters when the temperature drops to 70.
12. You Realize the best parking place is determined by shade, not distance.
13.You see people in malls, markets, even funerals..wearing swimsuits.

I guess I should have said that my post didn't happen to me. A friend sent it to me when I was complaining (as usual) about the heat here in the South East. I've since seen it in other places. The Good Jokes get around, don't they!!!
Aileen

I love winter, even if the commute can get dicey.

I'm going NORTH when/if I retire.

So glad you all like being fried so much, but believe me, it is not everybody.

It's still only July and I'm SICK of oven breathe atmosphere already. My favorite season, even at the lake, is Fall.

Ok... more more AZ haha from my friend in AZ....

Ah, Arizona!

The devil wanted a place on earth
Sort of a summer home
A place to spend his vacation
Whenever he wanted to roam.

So he picked out Arizona
A place both wretched and rough
Where the climate was to his liking
And the cowboys hardened and tough.

He dried up the streams in the canyons
And ordered no rain to fall
He dried up the lakes in the valleys
Then baked and scorched it all.

Then over his barren country
He transplanted shrubs from hell.
The cactus, thistle and prickly pear
The climate suited them well.
Now the home was much to his liking
But animal life, he had none.
So he created crawling creatures
That all mankind would shun

First he made the rattlesnake
With it's forked poisonous tongue.
Taught it to strike and rattle
And how to swallow it's young.

Then he made scorpions and lizards
And the ugly old horned toad.
He placed spiders of every description
Under rocks by the side of the road.

Then he ordered the sun to shine hotter,
Hotter and hotter still.
Until even the cactus wilted
And the old horned lizard took ill.

Then he gazed on his earthly kingdom
As any creator would
He chuckled a little up his sleeve
And admitted that it was good.

Twas summer now and Satan lay
By a prickly pear to rest.
The sweat rolled off his swarthy brow
So he took off his coat and vest.

"By Golly, " he finally panted,
"I did my job too well,
I'm going back to where I came from,
Arizona is hotter than Hell. "

That should have read "one" more...