Phoenix set another heat record with temperatures of 110 degrees on 54 days this year
How hot is it in Phoenix?
In the hottest summer on record, the sizzling Sonoran Desert city broke another record Saturday with temperatures topping 110 degrees.
It was the 54th day this year that the official reading at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport made a statement, eclipsing the previous record of 53 days from 2020.
Matt Salerno, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the heat wave could last 55 days.
“We have one more day,” he said.
An extreme heat warning remained in effect. Temperatures were forecast to be 111 degrees on Sunday and 106 degrees on Monday.
Salerno said Phoenix experienced its hottest three months since records began in 1895, including the hottest July and the second warmest August.
The average daily temperature of 97 degrees in June, July and August exceeded the previous record of 96.7 degrees three years ago.
The average daily temperature in July was 102.7 degrees, Salerno said, and the daily average in August was 98.8 degrees.
In July, Phoenix also set a record with a 31-day streak of high temperatures at or above 110 degrees.
The previous record of 18 consecutive days was set in 1974.
In the humid summer of 2023, a historic heat wave spread from Texas through New Mexico and Arizona to the California desert.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, last month was the hottest August on record worldwide.
It was also the second hottest month on record, behind only July 2023.
Scientists attribute human-caused climate change to an added boost from a natural El Niño, which is a temporary warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that alters weather around the globe.
Salerno said Phoenix had 104 days with temperatures above 100 degrees this year through Saturday.
That corresponds to the average of 111 three-digit days per year between 1991 and 2020.
Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and the most populous county in Arizona, also appears headed for an annual record for heat-related deaths.
County public health officials have confirmed 194 heat-related deaths this year as of Sept. 2.
A further 351 cases are currently being investigated.
Maricopa County confirmed 425 heat-related deaths in 2022.
