Climate

Montezuma Well, in the upper Sonoran Desert, a rare oasis. It was full of waterfowl.

One of the best things about life in Arizona is the range of climates available with just a short journey by car. We have cool alpine climates within an hour drive of most of the inhabited parts of the state.

If you live in the hot part of Arizona, you have to stay indoors during most of the day in the summer. But you can easily find relief by driving uphill for an hour or so and getting to a place where you can be outdoors without dying of heatstroke.

The opposite is true. Here in Flagstaff, we get snow and cold weather, but it's viable to drive 40 minutes to the upper Sonoran desert and be outdoors in shirt sleeves. We went for hikes at Montezuma Well and the Woods Canyon Trail in the high desert on Saturday. A day later I was snowboarding on the high peaks.