#4. It's Still Too Hot Outside

Hello, welcome back to my blog! Today I wanted to splatter about something I've noticed. With November just around the corner, we're finally seeing cooler temps. But shouldn't we have seen them sooner?

Sweater Weather Delayed?

I remember last year my cross country practices were seemingly  intolerable. I would wake up each morning and force myself to go out and run in what seemed like freezing temperatures. Some of my teammates would wear sweaters and sweatpants on our runs. I remember being able to feel my fingers go numb and see my breath in the air. This year there wasn't one day that I felt cold during practice. 

At school, there's so many people wearing hoodies and sweaters but the weather still reaches over 100 degrees on the daily. Perhaps that's because we're used to it getting cold during October, only this year it still hasn't happened. It seems as if each year, the cooler weather takes longer to reach. 

Why?

The obvious answer is global warming. We all know global warming has been an issue for decades but it seems to be pushed aside in every conversation as if we've all just accepted there's nothing we can do. For the most part, it's true. As individuals we can only do so much to aid in the fight against climate change.

Is there another reason though?

According to the The Guardian, the high temperatures in Phoenix are due to "the city’s unchecked development, which has created a sprawling urban heat island". This would make sense because, as we know, the cities of Arizona have been growing quickly and new buildings seem to be being built everywhere. All these new buildings and concrete that comes with them, causes heat to be trapped within the cities, making it harder to cool down during the nights. 

Another point that azcentral has made is that recent volcano eruptions have also played a factor in the record breaking temperatures this year. According to azcentral, "the equivalent of 58,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools" of water have been released into the atmosphere due to recent eruptions. All this water vapor in the air acts like greenhouse gases, which keep heat from being able to escape our planets atmosphere. Strange huh.

I would have never thought volcanos had anything to do with the hot temperatures this year. These are simply a couple of the factors (out of the many) that have influenced the weather in AZ this year. Hopefully the weather starts to cool down these coming months. I know I'm excited. Anyways, hope you learned something and stay tuned for the next blog. :)