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Southern ArizonaValley of the SunWeather Talk
Home›Southern Arizona›Why is Tucson a Few Degrees Cooler than Phoenix?

Why is Tucson a Few Degrees Cooler than Phoenix?

By Andrea Aker
June 8, 2010
11546
4

Excerpt from Valley 101: A Slightly Skewed Guide to Living in Arizona, a collection of Clay Thompson’s columns for The Arizona Republic. (Originally published June 13, 2001.)

Q: If Tucson and Phoenix are both in the desert, why is it always just a little bit cooler in Tucson than it is in the Valley?

A: Tucson is usually a little bit cooler than Phoenix because it is a little bit higher up. You may not actually have a sense of ascending when you drive there because you are lulled into a state of semiconsciousness because it is the most boring drive in the world.

Desert SunsetPhoenix’s elevation is 1,107 feet. Tucson’s is 2,550. Air cools as it rises because the pressure on it drops. Rising air cools at a rate of 5.4 degrees per 1,000 feet and sinking air warms at the same rate. That is called the dry adiabatic lapse rate.

Adiabatic is a good word, don’t you think? It means that heat is not being added or taken away, but since not many people probably know that, you could use it anyway you want. As in: “My car needs more adiabatic.” Or “Your tie is too adiabatic.”

So the dry adiabatic lapse rate would mean that all else being equal, you could expect Tucson to be about 8 degrees cooler than the Valley.

That’s nice for the people who live there, I suppose, but I’m still not sure it’s worth the drive.

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4 comments

  1. SaraD 13 June, 2013 at 13:06 Reply

    “You may not actually have a sense of ascending when you drive there because you are lulled into a state of semiconsciousness because it is the most boring drive in the world.”

    I love you, Clay Thompson. =D

  2. Stuart 13 June, 2013 at 13:21 Reply

    The drive to Phoenix is most certainly not worth it for Tucsonans, *especially* since it’s generally hotter.

    So… you can live in the hotter Phoenix “valley” which isn’t really a valley, but is rather a basin (unless you live at the extreme East end of the Salt River)… or you can live in the (slightly) cooler Tucson area which actually IS a valley. Complete with accessible mountains less with than an hour’s worth of a drive to the summit.

  3. Cactus Sunset Dark Wallpaper | Wallpaperia.com | HD Wallpaper Collections 28 February, 2014 at 08:09 Reply

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  4. Anonymous 17 November, 2016 at 08:19 Reply

    I go back to an old post of the boring drive from Phoenix to Tucson, that is so true, it is the most boring trip. Lol, the only reason why I take it is because I’m a Tucsonan with all my family in Tucson but working in Phoenix… I gotta say that I love the Old Pueblo and it’s cooler temperature ????

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