Phoenix, Arizona Grinds On With 100+ Consecutive Days Of 100 Degree Heat

It was over 100 degrees today (Thursday Sept 5) in
Phoenix, Arizona, the 102nd such day in a row.
The old record for such consecutive days was 76.
And there's no end in sight for this intense heat. 

As we usually see in here in Vermont during September, temperatures have gotten more comfortable than they were in mid-summer, with the dense humidity and hot days mostly if not completely behind us.   

Compared to many cities, including the example I'll get into, Vermont is always lucky when it comes to heat. 

One Vermont weather station did get above 100 degrees on one day this summer. And on a few days, the heat index nudged above degrees. But that was it for triple digit heat. 

This compares to very unfortunately Phoenix, Arizona. It's always ridiculously hot there in the summer, but this is beyond what even they are used to.

On Tuesday, they had their 100th consecutive day in which the temperature reached at least 100. Until this year, Phoenix never had a year with more than 76 consecutive 100 degree days. So this is painful, even for them. 

Even worse, an intense new heat wave is hitting the western United States this week, including in the fair city of Phoenix. An excessive heat warning was issued for much of southern California and Arizona - including Phoenix, through Friday. 

Forecast highs in Phoenix were 114 today and 111 Friday. 

The heat, of course is dangerous. As the Washington Post reports:

"Last year, heat deaths increased 50 percent from 2022, reaching a record 645 people in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. This year, 150 heat deaths have been confirmed by the government and an additional 440 deaths are under investigation." 

Not surprisingly, this long 100 degree streak contributed to making meteorological summer (June 1-August 31) the hottest on record, with an average of 98.9 degrees. The average high for that period in Phoenix was 110.4 degrees. The average low as a stifling 87.5 degrees.  

This is the second year in a row that Phoenix endured a spectacularly hot summer. Last July, Phoenix set a record for the hottest average monthly temperature for a U.S. city, as July, 2023 saw an average of 102.7 degrees. (Death Valley had hotter months, but that's not a city).  

Phoenix last year also had a record 31 days in a row in which the temperature reached at least 110 degrees. 

I guess climate change is making a brutally hot city even more unlivable. 

Normal highs in early September around Phoenix are still around 102 or 103 degrees, but you usually have a few days with highs "only" in the 90s by now. In fact, seasonal monsoons, with their clouds and thunderstorms, sometimes cause highs to stay below 100 degrees in Phoenix on a few days in late July and August 

It doesn't look like the 2024 daily 100-degree streak in Phoenix is going to end anytime soon. The National Weather Service forecasts daily highs at or above 100 degrees at least through next Wednesday. 

The Weather Channel forecast doesn't give Phoenix a sub-100 high temperature until September 15.

The late season heat wave out west is of course affecting plenty of other towns and cities. All the way north into Washington State, highs for the next couple of days are forecast to reach near record highs in the upper 80s to mid-90s. 

Officials are worries that the dry heat, along with erratic winds, could touch off destructive forest fires in the Olympic and Cascade Mountains.