Time to desert the desert?

"Maybe the climate is changing that area of our country into a smaller version of Saudi Arabia. Could be - but I do know this much. Living in Phoenix this time of year means spending most of your time indoors. And praying the electric grid holds out."

It seems like it happens every year now. A big ugly heat dome moves over our desert southwest, and a vicious weather "cap" develops. Very Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico become like an oven. In fact, anyone who was visited or live down there (I have been there in the summer), testifies it feels like once you step outside, you ARE in an oven. No thanks.

This summer, there was a new record hot day at Sky Harbor Airport (Phoenix) -118 degrees. Having day after day of over 110 degrees now, is more common than uncommon. Las Vegas, the city which never sleeps, is also a hotbed (so to speak). And Death Valley, is the place in California which lives up to its name. Hitting 120 degrees in Death Valley is easy to do in July. And some fool hearty folks who decide to challenge this type of heat, end up dying from the heat.

What is the city of Phoenix doing in spite of all this heat? Growing. Right now, Phoenix is the fourth most populated city in the United States. The amount of water required to service those 1.6M people living there is staggering. Meanwhile, Lake Mead, which is a major source of water for the desert southwest, is shrinking. Even though Mead has recovered a bit this year due to the "atmospheric rivers" which dumped copious amounts of rain on the Colorado River, hydrologists expect the lake level to drip again by the end of this year. And 2025 could see the lowest level in Mead since the 1930's. That will be very bad for the region.

This weekend it will be hotter than blazes in the Twin Cities. However, by next Tuesday things should return to summer normal for the upper Midwest. I could not imagine having this kind of heat hanging around for month after month. It is brutal and can be deadly. For the folks living in the desert southwest, I know the winters down there are good. But the summers are far from good.

It might be time to desert the desert (as they say). Maybe the climate is changing that area of our country into a smaller version of Saudi Arabia. Could be - but I do know this much. Living in Phoenix this time of year means spending most of your time indoors. And praying the electric grid holds out.