Yuma's Best 2012: Weather

Maybe people who vote in Yuma's Best don't find the Yuma area's summers all that harsh.

Or maybe they've had the experience of living in places where summers are more humid and altogether more unpleasant.

Or maybe they've lived in areas that are routinely pummeled by hurricanes or tornados.

Or maybe they consider the triple-digit degree highs they experience in the summer to be small price to pay for the mild temperatures and infrequent storms they experience during the remaining eight to nine months.

Whatever the case, voters in Yuma’s Best, the Yuma Sun’s annual poll, again picked weather as the Best Reason to Live in Yuma in 2012.

Indeed, weather – the reason tens of thousands of winter visitors come to Yuma County every year – also finished in first place in the same category of the survey in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

That’s understandable. While other parts of the nation were under snow, Yuma’s idea of a "cold spell" occurred last month when lows fell into the 30s for several days. The lows for January typically hover in the 40s, with the average high being 70.

Average highs climb up into the 80s by March or April, and then daytime temperatures reach 100 and higher by June. Highs remain in the triple digits through September, then drop into the 90s in October.

And then begins another glorious winter, with highs ranging in the 70s and 80s. That’s shirt-sleeve weather for many people.

It sure beats shoveling snow – as tens of thousands of winter visitors can attest.