24 September 2024

Hottest US city Phoenix smashes heat streak record

The city of 1.6 million residents, the largest in the Sonoran desert, had its hottest-ever summer, breaking the previous 2023 record by nearly two degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

The 113-day streak reached last week smashed Phoenix’s previous record of 76 days over 100 F set in 1993.

“It’s very rare that we see, especially…two record breaking summers like we just experienced,” said Matt Salerno, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Phoenix office.

Heat has killed 256 people so far this year in Phoenix’s Maricopa County and is the suspected cause of 393 other deaths, according to official data, opens new tab.

The county had a record 645 heat deaths last year.

“It is too early to project how totals in 2024 will compare with 2023,” said Nailea Leon, a spokesperson for Maricopa County’s public health department, adding that year-to-date 2024 heat deaths and suspected deaths were below 2023 levels but the summer was not yet over.

Around half of deaths are of unsheltered people, the county’s most vulnerable group.

Deaths peaked in July when Phoenix had regular highs of 118 F, a trend climate scientists attribute to global warming from fossil fuel pollution.

Over the last five years,the city has averaged 40 days of 110 degrees or higher compared with about five days at the beginning of the last century, according to the Arizona State Climate Office.

Heat has killed 256 people so far this year in Phoenix’s Maricopa County and is the suspected cause of 393 other deaths.

Axios

9 hours ago

Phoenix hits 100 days of 100° with no end to the streak in sight

Phoenix has smashed heat record after heat record this summer and is on track to top some more as a deadly heat wave is forecast to arrive Wednesday.

Why it matters: Extreme heat is becoming increasingly common in Phoenix and the Southwest.

Heat contributed to 645 deaths in metro Phoenix last year. The Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner has already confirmed 177 heat-related deaths this year and is investigating another 436.

State of play: Phoenix hit 100° for the 100th day in a row Tuesday, and the streak has no end in sight. The previous 100-plus-degree streak was 76 days, set in 1993.

Phoenix's average temperature of the meteorological summer (June-August) was 98.9° — beating the record of 97° from last year, per National Weather Service Phoenix meteorologist Sean Benedict.

Flashback: 2023 saw higher individual daytime temperatures — Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport recorded 31 straight days of at least 110° from June 30 to July 30 — but this summer's heat started much earlier and has sustained since late May, Benedict told Axios.

Last year's 100-degree streak was 66 days.

The intrigue: Four of the six hottest summers on record were in the past six years.

Context: Heat waves are becoming more common, intense and longer-lasting due to human-caused global warming.

Climate change has been found to yield extreme heat events that would have been virtually impossible without today's high levels of greenhouse gases, put in the atmosphere largely by fossil fuels burnt for energy.

What's next: A strong heat dome will send temperatures soaring into 110-degree territory in Phoenix as early as Wednesday.

The Valley will be under an excessive heat warning from Wednesday at 11am to Friday at 8pm.

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

PHOENIX, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The desert city of Phoenix, Arizona, suffered a record 113 straight days with temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) this year, leading to hundreds of heat-related deaths and more acres burned by wildfire across the state, officials said.8 hours ago