Wow, local environment, huh? Well, Arizona is a pretty varied state... everything from 12-thousand foot high mountains to the Sonoran desert. Of course, you probably think of the Grand Canyon when you think of Arizona, but that's not very "local" to me... takes a good 4-5 hours to drive that far North. I live West of Phoenix, which is the desert part of the state. Daytime temperatures in my area range from the low 60's(F) during the winter to around 110(F) in the summer. We average about 7-inches of rainfall a year... often we go several months without any rainfall. The afternoon relative humidity runs between 10% and 30%, but it's not unusual for us to go several weeks at 4-8%. That's why you often hear an Arizonan reply (jokingly) to a visitor's complaint about the heat with "yes, but it's a dry heat".
Here are some pics: Phoenix skyline at night, the desert, my favorite cowboy bar, my favorite golf course, and the red rocks of Sedona (which is less than a 2-hr drive North to escape the desert heat in the summer).
