I took our son Andrew with me to a conference in Phoenix, then stayed for week south of Tucson visiting Grandparents and enjoying the mountains of the Sonoran Desert. It was a great week with horses, ATVs, gold mines, jeep rides, mountain trails, and hidden caves.
The stark arid climate of Arizona contrasts with the water-filled landscape of Florida. And it got me thinking, how humid is Sanibel compared to other places in the US? I did some research and was surprised it wasn’t much more humid that many areas further north. I outlined the average daily humidity by month in the chart below:
Average Daily Humidity for Sanibel Island
When we visited Arizona in April, the temperature was pleasant, but it gets blazing HOT in the summer. I’ve lived most of my life in Florida so heat doesn’t bother me as much as some people, but Arizona hot feels like being shoved under a broiler set on high.
As I met folks there, we would invariably engage in the same verbal dance: They’d ask about the humidity of Florida, incredulous that anyone could tolerate moist air (as I write this, Sanibel humidity is 62% and Tucson is 10%). I’d then inquire about the wilting 115 degree summer heat. Infallibly, everyone’s response was: “But it’s a DRY heat.”
A dry heat? Is this a good thing? Sure, 115 degrees with 80% humidity would be worse. But I’d take 92 degrees with 80% humidity any day. My lips cracked the first day in Arizona, and despite constant application of Chapstick, Andrew’s lips began to bleed by the 3rd day. A week after returning, my skin is still flaking.
I’m glad to be back on Sanibel Island. For me the heat and humidity of summer here are welcome compared to the parching climate of the desert.
