From Tucson's summer monsoons to supercooling, Rosie Romero shares tips for newcomers to the Old Pueblo.
Rosie Romero Special to the Arizona Daily Star Question: I heard that Arizona has a law called the “Stupid Motorist Law.” Is that true?Sometimes the rain is so abundant that our hard soil can’t quickly soak it up, therefore we experience flash floods. Every time we experience heavy rainfall, the washes flood. Despite barricades being placed at flood zones with signs stating, “DO NOT CROSS,” inevitably, people ignore them, try to cross, and need to be rescued. Thus, the term and law.A.
Water that contains more than 1 GPG is considered somewhat “hard;” water with more than 10.5 GPG is very hard. A typical glass of Arizona water has at least 15 GPG. Turn your AC up as high as you can stand it during your on-peak hours. This will allow your AC to shut off and save you money during the most expensive time of day. The coolness you built up during your off-peak hours should last you well into the evening before your AC needs to cool you down again.
Keep a window shade in your car. If you do a lot of driving, add the roll-down shades that you can place on the side windows to keep the sun from penetrating through the glass.Shade sails are popular. They are not a DIY project and should be designed by a licensed structural engineer. If they are bolted to a fascia, they can rip the entire fascia off the house in the event of high winds.