The Arizona sentinel., 1897-04-17
ARIZONA.
It's Attractions and Advantages as q
 Place Of Residence in Winter.

It's AttracJl0hS and Advantages as
 Place of Residence in Winter.
 Whitelaw Reid. owner and editor of the New York Tr;5nne, who has spent the last two winters in Arizona for the benefit of h:s health, writes entertainingly and iE- structively concerning that part of the country. Mir. Reid says;
 So many questions are asked about Ari- zona as place for winter residence, and there appears to be suoh deartb of pre- else information among many who are vitally interested, that it seems almost q public duty, to set down, in the simplest form, few facts of personal observation.
 WEATHER.
 During Q five months residence in Southern Arizona in winter there was but one day when the weather made 1t actually unpleasant for me to take exercise in the open air at some time cr other during the day. Of course'ttere were a good many days which Q " eather observer would de scribe as "cloudy," and some that were ''sho1ery; but during these five months tfrom November, 1895, to May, lS96,) there were only four days when we did not have brilliant sunshine at some time dur ing the day, Even more than Egypt, any where north of Luxor, Arizona is the laud of sunshine. As to details;
 TEMPERATURE.
 have seen the thermometer mark 92 degrees in the shade on my north piazza in March On the other hand, we had frosts which killed young orange trees. and there were several nights when thin ice formed. The government reports show a mean temperature for fourteen years at the pres ent territorial capital of 574 degrees in November, s degrees in December, 49 de grees in January, 54 degrees in February, 6l degrees III March and G6 degrees Tn April. The same reports show the highest and lowest temperatures, averaged for eight years, at the same place, as follows: For November 7S11l degrees and 42 degrees, December 7311! degrees and 361a degrees, January 651l degrees and B degrees, Feb ruary 7l15 degrees and 351l de rees. March Sl 1a degrees and Al degrees and April S61I degrees and 45 degrees. The nights throughout the winter are apt to be cool enough for open wood fires, and for blankets. Half the time an overcoat is not needed during the day, but it is never prudent for a stranger to be without one at hand.
 The atmosphere is singuiarly clear, tonic and dry ] have never seen it clearer anyw here in the world. It seems to have abont the same bracing and collaborating qualities as the air of the Great Sahara in Northern Africa, or of the deserts about Mount Sinai. in Arabia Petraea. It is much dricr than In the parts of Morocco. Algiers or Tunis usually visited, and drier than any part of the Valley of the Nile north of the First Cataract. It seems to me about the same in quality as the air on the Nile between Assouan and Wady- Haifa, {Ju5 somew hat cooler.
 ACTUAL HUMIDITY.
 This is extremely slight, everywhere in Arizona, as compared with any eastern climate in the United States. The air is driest on the high mesas, remote from snowclad mountains or forests and in the desert valleys, where no considerable irri- gation has been begun. Wherever irrIga- tion Is carried on on large scale, the percentage of humidity in the atmosphere must be somewhat increased, although to an eastern visitor it is scarcely perceptible. The same Government observations al ready cited show relative humidity at Phoenix or Tucson, averaged for weeks, ! from morning and evening readings, at less ! than half the usual humidity on dry days i in New York. General Greedy, in a pub ! Iication from the Weather Bureau, gave the normal weight of aqueous vapor in the Arizona air at from l1a to 1 grains per cubic foot.
 RAIN. Showers, and indeed heavy rains are liable to occur in every month of the year; but the actual number of rains seems to an eastern visitor strangely small. ghe average rainfall in Southern Arizona, as shown by the Government observations, is but S11aa inches per year.
 ATTITUDES.
 IL Is a striking advantage offered by Arizona that, with the same general con- iitions as t5 temperature and dryness of air, the physician is able to select nearly my altitude be may desire. Thus, asth- natic sufferers can find almost the sea evel at Yuma, or an altitude of only hcusand feet at Phoenix, or of cnly 2,400 It Tucson. Others, who find no objection o greater elevations, can choose between Prescott CT Fort Whipple, 5,400; Flag ta fl, 6,SOO.; the Sulphur Spring Valley, or 2o-t Grant. 4,2GO; Fort Huaohuca 1 4,800,