Why do desert cities have such shitty skylines?

[Phil McAvity]

I've only been to Palm Springs and Las Vegas and if one puts aside the hotels and residential towers of Las Vegas (same deal with Reno), the city has almost no skyline which is bizarre for a city of it's size. The largest desert city in America Phoenix, has it's airport close enough to downtown to inhibit it's skyline but even when that's not a factor other desert cities like Tucson, Albuquerque and El Paso have almost no skyline and I can't figure out why