Arizona Heat Deaths Hit During Another Brutal Summer As Hot Spell Spreads Throughout West

Phoenix, Arizona is enduring yet another brutally
hot summer, even by their oven-like standards.
In recent days, the heat has spread 
throughout the western United States. 

Phoenix, Arizona has always been hell on Earth during the summer. 

Last year was by the far the most brutal ever. Phoenix endured its warmest year, longest stretch of consecutive days over 100 degrees, most days that reached 110 degrees, and warmest June, September, October and December.  

Everyone in Phoenix hoped this year would be cooler.   And it is! Kinda, sorta. The only problem is it is still one of the most brutal summers on record in Phoenix. 

It has become horribly routine. Every summer now is beyond what history taught Arizonans.  Climate change has turned the Arizona oven up to broil and beyond.  

That hot brutality is in the stats. This year, every day from July 27 through August 9 was 110 degrees or hotter. It peaked at 118 degrees on August 7, the hottest August day on record in Phoenix. 

On average, 21 days annually in Phoenix reach 110 degrees. As of Friday, this year already had 35 such days. At least it isn't as bad as last year, when they had a record shattering 70 days of 110 degree weather. 

To make it all the more unbearable, the monsoon season which often brings cooling thunderstorms has faltered.   

THE HEAT SPREADS

Over the past few days, it isn't just Phoenix. The heat has spread pretty much everywhere in the West, spreading northward all the way to Washington and beyond. 

In Washington State, the heat is forecast to last at least through Wednesday. Seattle is in the throes of its biggest heat wave of the summer. Highs on Saturday were near 90, and that kind of weather was expected to continue through Monday or Tuesday. 

Thunderstorms have been added to the mix, increasing humidity in some areas, raising the risk of flash flooding in the Sierra Nevada, and threatening new wildfire starts elsewhere due to lightning. 

In L.A County, thunderstorms with dry lighting and little rain set several small wildfires. The risk of more of these types of lighting-related fires through Tuesday, though Saturday brought the highest risk. 

The heat began a few days ago  in much of the West. Several Bay Area cities in California set record highs, including  Santa Rosa and San Rafael both at 100 degrees; Concord, at 101 and Livermore up to 102.  

Portland, Oregon got up to 102 degrees, Friday, breaking the previous record high for the date by four degrees.   Salem, Oregon had a record high of 101 and Eugene broke its daily record high by three degrees as the temperature reached 99 degrees. 

High schools in northern California and Oregon pushed back high school opening season football games into the night so that players and fans would avoid the most dangerous heat. 

DEADLY HEAT

Back in Phoenix, as always with Arizona heat, the hotter it gets, the grimmer the toll. As The Guardian tells us: 

"So far this year, three-quarter of heat related deaths have occurred outside, where temperatures in the most built-up, least shady parts of Phoenix can be 20 or 30 degrees higher on the sidewalk than the NWS's airport weather station. Unhoused people account for 40% of deaths, while substance misuse contributed to two-thirds."

The official death toll in Phoenix through midsummer was an about 30 percent  lower than last year, thanks in part to it being ever so slightly cooler in June and early July than in the record breaker 2024. The city has also improved access and extended hours at cooling centers around Phoenix. 

Still, The Guardian points out that heat deaths have soared in Maricopa County over the past decade or two. (The county encompasses Phoenix, its metropolitan area and many of its suburbs). There were 645 heat deaths in the county in 2023 compared to just 61 in 2014. 

Heat is the biggest weather killer in the U.S. About 2,000 Americans die of heat-related causes annually, and that might well be an undercount. 

AUTUMN IS COMING

It's finally forecast to cool off later this week in Phoenix with highs "only" in the 100 to 103 degree range. Much of the rest of the West should eventually cool down as well by the end of the week. By the end of the week, some cool, light showers might dampen Seattle. 

In the eastern two thirds of the United States, a large and sustained cool spell should keep temperatures comfortable all week, pushing the hot humid air all the way down to along the Gulf Coast. The first frost advisory of the season goes into effect late tonight in northern Minnesota.