Famed desert city Phoenix burned up the charts for the fifth time in seven years to take the No. 1 spot as America's sweatiest city in this annual ranking of the nation's heaviest sweaters, based on the amount of sweat produced per person. Phoenix's average temperature was 95.1 degrees in June, July and August 2007, and on many days the scorching temperatures were in the triple digits. Phoenix lives up to its nickname of "Valley of the Sun."
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"People might be surprised that a city known for its 'dry heat' tops the sweatiest cities list," said Dr. Paul Ruscher, associate professor and associate chair of meteorology at Florida State University. "However, sweat tends to evaporate from the skin much more quickly in places like Phoenix, and people just don't feel it as much as say in New Orleans or Miami where high humidity leads to that dreaded sticky, muggy feeling. Regardless of where a city falls on this list, there's one thing we can all agree on--hot weather means sweating."
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The top 10 sweatiest U.S. cities are:
1. Phoenix, Arizona
2. Las Vegas, Nevada
3. Tallahassee, Florida
4. Tucson, Arizona
5. Memphis, Tennessee
6. Miami, Florida
7. Houston, Texas
8. Tampa, Florida
9. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
10. Fort Myers, Florida
The U.S. city with the best manners is Charleston, S.C. Did your city make this list?
Fun facts to know and tell as you turn down the AC and turn up the fans:
--On a typical summer day, residents of Los Angeles, the city with the most cars on the road in the nation, can collectively produce enough sweat to fill the gas tanks of 27,667 SUVs in just one hour. Too bad sweat can't be used as an alternate fuel option!
--Living up to its nickname, the Sunshine State has four cities appearing in the top 10, more than any other state. Collectively, they produce enough sweat to fill Shamu's tank in 9.9 hours. (That's 6.5 million gallons!)
--When taking a look at which region reigns when it comes to producing sweat, that honor overwhelmingly goes to the South, where residents can collectively produce 3,634,581 gallons in just one hour on a typical summer day. This is nearly double the amount of the second-place West, with 2,088,923 gallons. Next is the Northeast, producing 1,942,536 gallons. The Midwest rounds out the list with 1,494,856 gallons.
--Like hometown hero Elvis Presley, Memphis burned up the charts, coming in at No. 5 (up from No. 14 last year) and breaking into the top 10 sweatiest cities for the first time since 2002.
--San Francisco is the nation's least sweaty city included on the list, coming in at No. 100. Yet even with an average temperature of just 63.5 degrees during the summer months, each San Franciscan can still produce over 17 ounces of sweat per hour--clear evidence that sweat happens even in cooler weather conditions.
