[nugget]

Bad climate and lack of water are two common misconceptions applied to both Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Both are hot and dry, which many people love. Hot and dry > hot and humid, which is Texas, Florida, and most of the area in between. Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and Florida are the top retirement destinations for folks from the Midwest and Northeast, sick of cold and snow. Personally I prefer Las Vegas to the others because it's dry and doesn't have bugs (unlike Texas and Florida) but it's not quite as hot as Phoenix (which runs about 10'F hotter).

Water wise, Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States, less than an hour's drive away from downtown Las Vegas. Lake Mead's water is used by several states under a complicated water sharing agreement, but push come to shove, you can't physically move it out of Nevada. No significant water use restrictions have been placed on Las Vegas. By contrast, look at the situation in California, where some towns have had to resort to trucking in water because even their groundwater resources are entirely depleted.

[dragonwriter]

> Water wise, Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States, less than an hour's drive away from downtown Las Vegas. Lake Mead's water is used by several states under a complicated water sharing agreement, but push come to shove, you can't physically move it out of Nevada.

Actually, it really wants to move out of Nevada on its own, which is why it takes the Hoover Dam to keep it there -- and, even so, its not all in Nevada to start with.

And, push come to shove, the Colorado River is dammed further upriver than Lake Mead, so, in a sense, the reservoir could be moved out of Nevada. (As the reduction in releases from Lake Powell to Lake Mead recently demonstrates.)

Or, more importantly, it could cease to exist as useful reservoir with only a few more of the poor water years without a significant break that have been the norm since 2000.

[toomuchtodo]

> Or, more importantly, it could cease to exist as useful reservoir with only a few more of the poor water years without a significant break that have been the norm since 2000.

I've seen Hoover Dam from the inside. I'd pay to see it again at the bottom from the former lake bed.

[gonzo]

> Bad climate and lack of water are two common misconceptions applied to both Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Have you lived in either during the Summer?

The Las Vegas Valley gets about 90 percent of its water from the Colorado River.

[rycfan]

I have lived in Las Vegas for 6 1/2 years, including 7 summers. I'd rather live here than in Florida, where it gets nearly as hot, but which is way more humid and uncomfortable in my opinion. I'm not sure where this idea that Vegas is unlivable in the summer comes from -- it's no worse here in terms of extremes than the winters of some cities. No one would realistically think they could stay outside all the time during the 5-6 month winters of, say, Wisconsin or Vermont. It's already in the high 30's for lows in Wisconsin, for example. But for some reason people accept that without question but think it's crazy living in a place where's it hot (but no shoveling snow!) for 3 months and amazing for 9 months.

As far as Las Vegas getting 90% of its water from the Colorado river, that is true. Which is a whopping 4% of the amount available each year. As bad as things are getting in California, we're not too far from needing desalination there which frees up more than enough water for Las Vegas.

More water evaporates from Lake Mead each year (800,000 acre feet) than is used by Las Vegas (300,000 acre feet) -- http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/lakefaqs.html.

[gonzo]

I was born-n-raised, moved to Texas when I was 24 or 25. I've been back a couple times. Dad and sister both live there. Mom and brother are both buried there.

It's pretty damned hot if you're working outside. I don't remember it being that hot when I was younger (we would run across the street in bare feet).

[spilk]

Having lived in both Florida and Las Vegas, Las Vegas is so much nicer. This might be cliche, but the humidity really does make all the difference. High temps are 20 degrees lower in Florida, but I'd rather stand outside in 110F heat in the desert than 90F in a Florida summer.