Homecoming complaints start each May when students pack up their dormitories, apartments or houses to move home for the summer.
“I’ll try to stick to my lease,” some say, or “I wish the dorms let you go through the summer!”
Well, from a Tucson local, here’s my advice: No, there’s no way you want to stay in Tucson for the summer. Here are my top three reasons why Tucson is actually probably one of the most miserable places on earth in the summer.
1. You already know it: the heat.
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Probably one of the first reasons anyone with a mind would come up with but shouldn’t forget is the fact that the heat in Tucson is incredible. What students don’t always realize is that while the heat is almost unbearable when they pack their parents’ cars in May and August, the scorching temperatures make walking around campus totally hellish, and the in-between is significantly worse .
In 2020, Tucson temperatures exceeded 100 degrees for a total of 108 days, and this year’s first three-digit temperature was hit two weeks earlier than in 2020 on May 13th.
May usually marks the first of the three-digit temperatures, although June brings with it a long month of bitter dry heat with hot winds. Don’t you know what that feels like? Open a hot oven and hold your face close for a moment. It’s something like that.
July means monsoon season – five minute long storms that bring pouring rain and thunder out of nowhere for about a month, ruining pool days at the most inopportune moments. Unlike previous years when Tucson had record droughts, this year was one of the wettest. The US Drought Monitor even reported that the massive rainfall the desert experienced during this monsoon season significantly dampened the short-term drought effects. This is great news for the state of Sonora, but for Tucson residents, it means your car is always dirty, almost daily rains thwart most plans, and worst of all, easily flooded streets block access to many neighborhoods and shopping malls.
While the monsoons seem like a break from the heat, it also brings with it moisture that Tucson rarely experiences the rest of the year. The mornings in July tend to be particularly humid, which means getting up early to run is just as miserable as it is later in the evening.
Regardless of the statistics, the fact is that experiencing Tucson’s record temperatures from April through October puts a strain on both the soul and literally everything else.
In summer, playgrounds become a danger; the metal threatens children who try to play on it, blowing bubbles. Getting into the car is just as dangerous – everything from buckling up to changing gears to the steering wheel is hot. Dogs must also wear special boots in the evenings as the sidewalks are so hot they can burn their feet.
2. Nobody is here.
This one is short and sweet – despite what everyone is saying they’ll be staying in Tucson for the summer, they just aren’t. The University of Arizona has the highest proportion of foreign students of any Arizona state university. In 2013, 31% of their students were from other areas. With so many students returning home to their families and all the other Arizona students returning to their respective cities, Tucson simply doesn’t have many people left, even considering the handful that are left in their rental apartments or houses.
It’s not just college students. Snowbirds, people who come to Tucson to escape the frigid winters in their homes that they return to when the brutal Sonoran summer passes, make up a significant Tucson population for half the year. The point is: you don’t miss a thing.
3. Nobody is here – Business Edition.
For those of us college students who work in companies whose target or even main customer base is college students (e.g. Illegal Pete’s, Gentle Ben’s, the boutiques on University Boulevard, to name a few), kiss your customers goodbye. Summer means long shifts, low paychecks, and sometimes reduced or closed business hours. Back in 2006, the Arizona Daily Star published articles on how businesses were hit by the massive summer churn. Most of the jobs you will be working during the summer have a pretty heavy focus on the decline in customers for the summer, which means you are likely to get fewer hours (and tips).
Long story short, if the heat, loneliness, and unpromising paychecks don’t put you off, you’re probably either incredibly stubborn or you really hate your hometown – but when you’re home and wondering how it got on the campus is not. You are really much better off wherever you are.
Sincere,
A T-loc.
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Mandy (she / she) is a junior studying journalism and public relations. She spends her free time shopping, writing and hanging out with friends.
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