IAIN LUNDY reports from phoenix

THE effort of walking from an air-conditioned house to an air-conditioned car to an air-conditioned office or store when the sun was at its hottest in Phoenix, Arizona, this week was likened to “swimming through an extreme wall of heat”.

It’s not a bad analogy. This south-western US city is experiencing its annual personal greenhouse effect. The heat can leave you struggling for breath, beads of sweat form on your forehead within seconds, and the sense of relief when you reach the “shelter” of the car is palpable. This lasts for the entire summer – dog months rather than dog days.

The city was on high alert earlier this week when weather forecasters were predicting it would set a record high June temperature of 120°F (the United States, along with Palau, Belize, The Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands, still uses the Fahrenheit scale).

As it turned out, the mercury didn’t quite hit record levels, reaching a high of just 119°F – a rather sizzling 48.3°Celsius – to the disappointment of only meteorologists and masochists.

Still, it was the fourth-hottest day on record for Phoenix.

At 5pm the forecaster on the local KJZZ radio told listeners the overnight low temperature would be 93°F. “I repeat, that’s the low,” she stressed.

Phoenix and the surrounding cities that make up its metropolitan area – including Mesa, Scottsdale, and Tempe – boast 185 beautifully-manicured and hugely popular golf courses. This week, save for a handful of early-morning diehards, they have been deserted.

Extreme weather warnings had been issued using the terms “deadly” and “dangerous”. People have been told to stay indoors and to avoid needless exercise and unnecessary exposure to the sun. The would-be golfers were effectively being told that their normally relaxing sport is, in these conditions, potentially fatal.

That morning, what seemed like the most extreme and bizarre reaction to the rising temperatures came when American Airlines cancelled more than 50 flights out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on the basis the heat compromised the safety of certain aircraft in its fleet.

The company’s American Eagle regional flights use the Bombardier CRJ aircraft, which has a maximum operating temperature of 118°F. Customers appeared to understand the decision. They were told to rebook free of charge or ask for a refund; there were no reports of hostility towards American Airlines staff.

A company spokesman explained hot air is less dense than cold air, and the hotter the temperature, the more speed a plane needs to lift off. For aircraft such as the Bombardier CJR, a runway might not be long enough to enable it to reach the required lift-off speed.

Elsewhere in the city, emergency shelters have been set up and organisations such as the Salvation Army are providing homeless people with water and protective clothing. Nevertheless, the authorities estimate about 120 people will die in Arizona this summer purely because of the extreme heat. The majority will be homeless people, some will be construction workers, and others will be the hikers and mountain bikers who defy warnings to stay indoors. They tend to fall victim to heart attacks or dehydration.

Dog owners have to kit out their pets with protective booties for their paws. Even the city’s zoo has closed temporarily. It’s too dangerous to keep the animals outside in cages, so they have been moved indoors with their own private air conditioning.

So why does anyone want to live in what is now America’s fifth most populous city, having recently overtaken Philadelphia? Just as some Scots suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) during the bleak winter months, so there is genuine grief among many Phoenicians at the onset of the hot season. They get used to it, but no-one ever enjoys it.

Phoenix was built in a low-lying bowl-shaped valley – accurately called the Valley of the Sun – only 1000ft above sea level and in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. There are hills and mountains on all sides, with the result that the heat is trapped, resulting in what locals call a “melting pot” effect.

The city is also relatively close to the Equator, and receives a lot of the sun’s energy at this time of year. There is a persistent area of high pressure hanging around the south-west that results in clear, dry conditions, and contributes to Phoenix’s extreme heat.

The situation has been made infinitely worse by the massive building programme of the last few decades that continues apace. Right now, it seems every spare corner lot is being developed, and new roadways are being constructed at mind-boggling speed. For every new housing estate, concrete shopping mall, and stretch of freeway, it simply means that bit more heat retention.

We are also assured the planet is warming up, although many thousands of Americans – even in Phoenix – choose, for varied reasons and agendas, to subscribe to the “science is bunk” theory.

In three months, we will see light at the end of the long, hot tunnel and be through this living hell. The consolation of life in Arizona is the winters are wonderful – like Scottish summer weather, yet warmer. In the meantime, if we want a cold beer to cool us down, we must take the advice of the experts and have a large glass of water along with it. Dehydration, you see.