Not as stifling as Phoenix, but still the desert
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3/22/2008
The city of Surprise, much like many of the continuously developing exurbs on the fringes of the Phoenix metroplex, has a notable amount of open land causing a minor but welcome temperature drop of at least 10 degrees from the official measurements taken at Sky Harbor Intl. Airport.
Precious little of this open land remains in an unfettered native state, most acreage being in various stages of development, though there is quite a large percentage of active farmland that has some type of crop most of the year. This provides a noticeable, and pleasant, cooling effect in Autumn and Spring adding to the amount of time you can comfortably spend out of doors enjoying the many activities offered by the area (parks, golf, fishing, etc.)
That said, this is still the desert and should not come as any "surprise" that it is hot much of the year and dry all year, save for the brief respite brought by the monsoon storms. However, the same monsoonal changes exacerbate another inescapable fact of valley life: dust. It is persistent and has no "off-season".
And, finally, despite the relief to those with ailments otherwise made worse by humidity (e.g. respiratory illnesses, arthritis, and mold allergies) there is a fair amount of allergens throughout the region, many caused by non-native plants plus the aforementioned omnipresent dust.
Scott | Surprise, AZ