What? You stay here ALL summer? OMG! It’s too hot!

In fact, if you are anywhere near the sea, it rarely gets to 100 degrees in Peñasco. What gets you is the humidity.

According to various meteorology sites, and their high-dollar equipment, the average annual humidity here is 63% with July running around 70%, December is the highest at around 75% and the lowest level around 57% in October.

The Mayo Clinic says people are most comfortable at humidity between 30 and 50 percent, but across the United States daily percentages in the 70s and 80s are quite common.

Of the six states with the lowest humidity Arizona and Nevada both average only 38 percent. New Mexico is next with 46 percent, followed by Utah at 52, Colorado at 54 and Wyoming at 57 percent. Visitors from these areas have simply forgotten that perspiration is a good thing – nature’s evaporative cooling.

It can be challenging but dealing with high humidity is not much different than dealing with sub-zero temperatures and wind-chill factors. You simply move from one controlled environment to another. In the early days of Rocky Point tourism, there was no air conditioning; unless you count a fan and a spray bottle.

Today we enjoy the luxury of machines that suck the water out of the air in our houses and drop the temperature to a pleasant 72-78 degrees. Most stores and restaurants are air conditioned and so are our cars. So summer is quite manageable.

Here’s the trick: Do outdoor chores before sunrise. Run your errands in the early morning. Take a siesta after lunch. Hit the ocean around 3 or 4. Head out to dinner after sunset. Have your air conditioners serviced at least once a year. Thank God you don’t pay as much for electricity here as you would up north.

Summertime, when tourism is at its slowest, is a great time to enjoy the peace and tranquility, the night sky and the Sea of Cortez. Humidity? Please! It’s only water. Never mind that it’s dripping off your nose!

PHOTO CAPTION

When the temperatures and humidity climb, choose the sea or AC.

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash