Three to four days is enough for a good first visit to Phoenix. Spend a day downtown and on Roosevelt Row, a morning hiking Camelback Mountain or South Mountain, and an afternoon at Papago Park and the Desert Botanical Garden, then add a museum such as MIM or the Heard.

No. Like most of Arizona, Phoenix stays on Mountain Standard Time, UTC-7, all year. In summer that lines up with Pacific Daylight Time, so Phoenix shares clocks with Los Angeles, and in winter it matches Denver. The state decided long ago that extra evening sun was the last thing it needed.

A haboob is a towering wall of dust pushed out by the winds of a collapsing thunderstorm. In Phoenix they roll in during the summer monsoon and can cut visibility to almost nothing within minutes. They usually pass quickly, and locals often watch the brown wall arrive from a window.