Residents in Phoenix, Arizona, are set to experience some relief from the blistering heatwave following the city’s record of the most days at or above 110F (43.3C) this year despite reaching 112F (44.4C) on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
On Sunday, the NWS announced that temperatures in Arizona’s largest city will finally begin to retreat “closer to the seasonal normal” with highs expected to range between 102F (38.9C) and 104F (40C) between Monday and Friday. Sunday’s temperature broke the daily high record of 111F (43.9C) set in 1990.
The NWS also said that there was a 25% chance of a passing shower or storm on Tuesday, focused mainly over higher terrain. “Only around a month to go until the average last 100-degree day,” it added.
On Saturday, Phoenix’s Sky Harbor international airport reached 110F, making it the 54th day this year to hit that temperature.
Saturday’s temperature breaks the previous record of 53 days, which was set in 2020. From 1991 to 2020, the average number of days at 110F or above was 21, the NWS said.
An excessive heat warning issued by the NWS across south-central and south-west Arizona is set to expire at 8pm this evening,
“I hate to say ‘Yes, this will be the last,’ but it’s more than likely that will be the case – this will be our last stretch of 110s this summer,” Chris Kuhlman of the NWS in Phoenix told the Associated Press.
According to the NWS, with the onset of cooler temperatures and rain chances returning, the threat of heat risk decreases from moderate to minor.
Earlier this summer, Phoenix grappled with a 31-day streak of temperatures at or above 110F as a blistering and historic heatwave swept across numerous states including Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California.
The previous record was set in 1974, during which the city saw 18 days at or above 110F.
The summer of 2023 was the hottest ever recorded, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The average temperature was measured to be 16.8C (62.2F), 0.66C above the 1991-2020 average.
