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Tools

Small calculators, filed by what you are trying to decide. Each one runs entirely in your browser against the same dated climate record the rest of the site uses: no account, nothing sent anywhere, and a limits section that says plainly what it cannot do.

Heat & Safety

The heat here is a scheduling problem before it is anything else. These tools work out which hours are workable, how hot surfaces and cars actually get, and what to do when someone is in trouble.

Heat-Safe Hours Planner An hour-by-hour read on a typical day in any month, scored against what the activity can take. Which hours today are safe to be outside? Parked-Car Heat Timeline Interior temperature over the first hour, from published vehicle-heat studies, at Phoenix temperatures. How hot does a parked car get, and how fast? Pavement & Paw Check Five common surfaces by air temperature and sun, with the guidance that follows from each. Is the ground too hot for paws or bare feet? Heat-Illness Triage Guide A short decision path from symptoms to action, following CDC and county public health guidance. What do these symptoms mean, and what do I do now? Outdoor Event Heat Check The historical odds for any day of the year, above a threshold you choose. How often has it been this hot on my date? Trail Season & Rules Checker Preserve trails with their heat guidance, closures and official sources, each dated. Can I hike this trail today, and what are the rules?

Monsoon

Six weeks of the year deliver most of the Valley’s rain, most of its dust and nearly all of its flash floods. These tools track the season, prepare a household for it and walk through the decisions that matter when it arrives.

Monsoon Season Clock Days elapsed and remaining, the phase the season is in, and what the dew point is doing. Where are we in the monsoon season? Monsoon Prep Checklist Builder A checklist shaped to your home, car and pets, printable and exportable to a calendar. What should I actually do before the storms arrive? Dust-Storm Decision Flow Three situations, one decision path each, following ADOT guidance for dust storms. A wall of dust is coming. What do I do? Wash-Crossing Decision Flow A decision path for a flooded crossing, with the county guidance and the law behind it. The road ahead is under water. What now? Rain Log A month-by-month rainfall journal for your own address, compared with the Phoenix normals. How does my rainfall compare with normal?

Yard & Garden

Two growing seasons, a winter that never quite freezes and a summer that does. These tools answer what to plant, when to plant it and how much water it will take.

Desert Plant Picker A curated desert plant list you can filter by sun, water, size, pet safety and bloom. What should I plant here, and will it survive? Planting Calendar The Valley’s two growing seasons, month by month, with what to sow and what to pick. What can I plant this month? Citrus Care Calendar Twelve months of watering, feeding, pruning and freeze protection for Valley citrus. What does my citrus need this month? Frost & Freeze Date Explorer How often the Valley actually freezes, by month, and what each threshold does to a plant. Will it freeze, and when? Hydrozone Yard Planner Drop plants into water-use zones and see what the grouping means for the irrigation clock. Which plants belong on the same irrigation line? Sun Path & Shade Finder Sun altitude and bearing through the day, with the afternoon wall the sun lands on. Where will the shade fall, and when?

Home & Pool

Cooling equipment here runs harder for longer than almost anywhere in the country, and a pool in August is a different problem from a pool in January. These tools put both on a calendar.

Home Cooling Task Scheduler Filter, coil, pad and service dates for the equipment that carries a Phoenix summer. What does the cooling system need, and when? Pool Month-by-Month Planner Twelve months of pool care, with the water-temperature context that drives each task. What does the pool need this month? Peak-Hours Habit Planner Your daily routine against typical peak windows, with the habits worth moving. Which of my habits land in the expensive hours?

How the tools are built

Method

A tool is only as good as the numbers under it, so each one draws on a dataset in the site's data directory rather than on a figure typed into a page. Those datasets are generated from the sources listed on each tool page, chiefly the NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, station USW00023183, plus guidance from Maricopa County, the City of Phoenix, the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, AMWUA, ADOT, ADWR, the CDC and the National Weather Service.

Where a value could not be verified against a primary source, it is marked in the data as needing verification rather than estimated, and the tool either says so on the page or does not show that figure at all. The methods page lists every source in full.

Every tool also prints the date its data was last checked. If a figure on this site is wrong, the date it was checked is the first thing to look at, and the fastest way to get it fixed is the contact page.