Multimedia Report: Beat the Phoenix heat

Multimedia package by Ashley Barnes, Becky Gemmell and Andrea Krueger

Iced drinks from Starbucks, portable misters, dips in the pool.  Phoenix residents and visitors alike find ways to beat the heat.  

“To beat the heat, I try to stay in the pool as much as possible,” said Tom Schoomer, who has lived in Phoenix for seven years.  

Held by her mom Bertha Vlach, 1-year-old Sophia went for her first swim in the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown’s pool.  

“I’ve put her under the water three times, and she just loves it,” Vlach said as her daughter played with her pink sunglasses and waved hello.   

Pointing to the fountains that flow from the south wall of the pool, Vlach said, “She loves how the water squirts her feet.”

Cooling off in the pool isn’t the only option.  

New York resident Deb Martinez found relief by sitting under an umbrella near the pool and reading her Amazon Kindle.  

Martinez, who was in Phoenix for a nurses’ convention, found the desert heat more bearable than New York’s.  

“It’s much nicer, much drier.  The heat feels worse in New York,” she said.  

People who don’t have access to a pool can create their own water-based relief, according to Anna Belle, a long-time Phoenix resident.  Belle places ice cubes in a washcloth and dabs her face to cool off.  

“I don’t think that you get used to it,” Belle said.  “I’m not comfortable, but I just do what I’ve got to do.”

So far, June’s average temperature has been 105 degrees, according to weatherchannel.com. 

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The pool is a popular place to find relief from the Phoenix heat. (Photo by Becky Gemmell)

Held by her mother Bertha, 1-year-old daughter, Sophia Vlach goes for her first swim.  (Photo by Becky Gemmell)

Deb Martinez finds relief from the heat under an umbrella at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown's pool.  (Photo by Becky Gemmell)