The Republic | azcentral.com

Heat has been in the news a lot lately: An air-conditioning technician succumbed to the heat while working. A Family Dollar store went three weeks without air conditioning.

And studies suggest Phoenix-area summers are only going to get hotter.

Should Arizona observe heat days, like other states have snow days? We asked our Voices: Engaging Arizona Facebook group to tell us why it would work (or wouldn't). Most were skeptical of the idea.

As Chuck Carothers, a retired student financial aid director in Sun Lakes, said, “Let common sense prevail. No need to be ordering us what to do based on the temperature.”

But Sam Buffington, a retired accountant from Sun City West, and Don Watz, a project manager in Peoria, had an interesting back and forth. Here are snippets:

No, the warnings we have now are fine

Sam Buffington: Observe heat days? I don't think so. I haven't lived in a cold climate, but it seems that the cautions are from the snow, not the cold. The snow accumulations simply make transportation too hazardous or impractical. The heat doesn't do that to transportation.

The heat can be hazardous, yes, but business and commerce don't need to shut down. We could increase and amplify the warnings we have now. That should be sufficient.

Yes, we could use another level

Don Watz: For a snow day, the closings of schools and businesses usually are a reaction to the weather forecast or weather that is real-time. A blizzard with extreme cold makes it an easy decision to essentially shut down a city, but closures are still an announcement by the appropriate group. There is no one “the city is closed” announcement.

The National Weather Service usually plays a big role in these closings. If we equate this to our Arizona issue – heat – there are changes needed to reach the point of a “heat day.”

Currently, the National Weather Service seems to exclude Arizona with its heat warnings. They communicate an excessive heat warning (105 degrees) and a heat advisory (100 degrees). We call these days “summer in metro Phoenix.”

Therefore, the NWS should add a new category to determine conditions that make it extremely dangerous to work outside, change a tire on the side of the road, shop, hike, go to school or go to work.

This new category (heat day) should be communicated. Then, schools (if in session), government and business can determine how they will react to the announcement. Everyone is familiar with a snow day and what happens to a city. It is time that a heat day receives the same visibly and appropriate decision makers react to the danger.

Would more heat change your mind?

Moderator: If the predictions are right and Phoenix could regularly reach 120 degrees in the summer by 2050, would that change your mind on heat days?

Buffington: If the 2050 scenario plays out, some sort of variation of a “heat day” might make sense. I think I've been through two or three of those? It's seriously hot.

Watz: An “excessive heat day” means nothing in Phoenix. Can this forum be used to motivate someone to take current and future research and determine what is our tipping point? Is it 115 degrees? Is it 120? When we reach that, then what are the suggestions to business owners, school superintendents and other decision makers who are asking their employees/students/participants to go out in the heat?

A really, really crazy heat day will not close down the city, but it could enact certain polices, based on education, that will help separate a regular hot day from a day that is so hot it is dangerous.

Want in on this and other civil debates about the news? Fill out a short form to be considered for our moderated Voices: Engaging Arizona Facebook group.