An unrelenting series of summer heat waves have shattered single-day temperature records throughout the South and Southwest this summer, breaking longstanding records in major cities across the country, as “dangerously” hot conditions linger this week from California to Florida.
Phoenix shattered a daily record high at a blistering 118 degrees, over the city’s previous daily high of 116, extending the city’s record-setting string of consecutive days above 110 degrees to 25 days.
Reno, Nevada, Helena, Montana, and Grand Junction, Colorado, set daily temperature records at 104, 103 and 105 degrees, respectively, while Miami set a daily record (98 degrees) according to the National Weather Service.
Salt Lake City set a daily record high with thermometers reading 105 degrees, while San Juan, Puerto Rico, broke its daily record at 94 degrees and Phoenix set yet another daily record high at 118 degrees.
El Paso, Texas, broke its daily record for the fifth straight day, with a daily high of 107, while Flagstaff, Arizona, set its third consecutive daily record at 90 degrees, and Tampa and Orlando, Florida set daily records at 96 and 97 degrees, respectively, according to National Weather Service data.
Phoenix extended its streak of 110-plus-degree days to 21, breaking yet another daily temperature record at 115 degrees, while Flagstaff, Arizona, set a daily record (90 degrees).
Phoenix broke its latest in a string of daily temperature records amid a historic heat wave in the Southwest, with the temperature at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport reaching 119 degrees, the hottest day since 2017 and the city’s fourth hottest day on record—Flagstaff, Arizona, also set a daily record at 92 degrees, as did El Paso, Texas (111), Tucson, Arizona (112) and Baton Rouge, Louisiana (98).
Phoenix set a record for most days in a row with highs of 110 degrees or higher, reaching the mark for the 19th consecutive day, with temperatures hitting 118 degrees—a daily record—while Death Valley broke its daily record at a staggering 128 degrees, Tucson, Arizona, broke its daily record at 112, Las Vegas set a daily record (100) and Austin, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Fort Worth and San Antonio, Texas, both broke daily records at 107, 101, 109, 110 and 104 degrees, respectively.
Las Vegas broke a daily record at 96 degrees, while Flagstaff, Arizona, broke its record (94) and four Texas cities—San Antonio, Austin, El Paso and Fort Worth—broke their daily records at 104, 108, 109 and 108, respectively.
Salt Lake City surpassed its daily record high, when the temperature hit 106 degrees, while Santa Rosa, California, tied a daily record (99 degrees), Flagstaff, Arizona, broke its daily record (96 degrees), as did Corpus Christi, Texas (103 degrees), Mobile, Alabama (98), Baton Rouge, Louisiana (100), Austin, Texas (106), El Paso, Texas (105), Sacramento (109) and Reno, Nevada (108)—Carson City, Nevada, shattered its previous daily record of 99 degrees at a blistering 105.
Flagstaff, Arizona, tied a daily record high at 89 degrees.
Two major Texas cities tied their daily high temperature records, with San Antonio hitting 105 degrees and Waco reaching 104, while Fort Worth, Texas, broke its daily record at 106 and Phoenix tied its daily high at 116.
Phoenix set its latest daily high temperature record at 114 degrees, following a string of daily temperature records in the city, while Baton Rouge, Louisiana, tied its daily record at 99 degrees.
Phoenix tied a daily temperature record at a high of 114 degrees, tying a record set in 2020.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, tied its daily high temperature, at 96 degrees.
Miami broke its daily temperature record for the fourth-straight day and for the fifth time over just six days, at 96 degrees.
Tucson, Arizona, set a record daily high, with thermometers reading 110 degrees, breaking the city’s previous record by one degree.
Portland, Oregon, reached a sweltering 98 degrees, breaking the city’s daily record high by two degrees, while Vancouver, Washington, and Eugene, Oregon, also set daily highs, at 96 and 99 degrees, respectively, and El Paso, Texas, broke a daily record at a whopping 107 degrees.
Tampa set a daily record high again with thermometers reading 97 degrees—July 4 was the planet’s hottest day in nearly 125,000 years, at 62.92 degrees, according to the University of Maine Climate Change Institute.
Tampa broke its daily record (99 degrees), while Stockton, California, broke its record by one degree (109) and Sacramento tied its record (109).
Multiple cities across the country tied their daily record highs, including Tampa (96 degrees), Corpus Christi, Texas (98), and Billings, Montana (99).
Miami set its second-consecutive daily temperature record at 95 degrees, while Fort Worth, Texas, narrowly hit a record daily high at 103 degrees and New Orleans broke another daily record at 100 degrees—marking the first time the temperature has reached triple-digits at the city’s airport in seven years.
Roswell, New Mexico, set another daily high at 112 degrees, the city’s second hottest day on record, while Miami broke another daily record with a temperature of 95 degrees.
As the heat wave stretched east, New Orleans set a new daily record at 98 degrees, beating its former high of 97 set last year.
Roswell, New Mexico tied its daily heat record with a high of 110 degrees set in 1990, while San Antonio for the second straight day tied its daily record (102).
San Antonio tied its daily heat record at 102 degrees, while Laredo set another daily record (109).
Corpus Christi, McAllen and Laredo continued to break record daily high temperature records (103, 105 and 114 degrees, respectively).
The Florida Keys tied a daily high temperature record at 94 degrees, while St. Paul, Minnesota, broke a daily record (91), Corpus Christi, Texas, broke a daily record (100) and Houston tied its daily record (99).
Laredo and McAllen broke daily records again, at 114 and 106 degrees, respectively, while Austin set another daily record (106) and Midland broke its daily record (109).
Records were smashed across Texas during a heat wave, with new daily highs hit in San Antonio (105 degrees) and McAllen (107), while Austin tied its prior daily record of 106 degrees, according to the National Weather Service and Laredo tied an all-time record-high temperature for the city (115)—Laredo broke another daily record on June 13 (111 degrees).
Miami broke a daily record with a temperature of 95 degrees—toppling a record that had stood for 12 years—while Fort Lauderdale broke a daily heat record (95 degrees).
Cincinnati broke a daily high record that had been set in 1951 (93 degrees).
Hartford also saw a daily record (94 degrees), beating a record set in 1961 by 3 degrees and Philadelphia narrowly beat a 23-year record (95 degrees), while temperature records also fell in the Midwest, including in St. Louis (93 degrees) and Detroit (90 degrees).
Buffalo set daily temperature records on consecutive days to start off the month (90 degrees), while Syracuse, New York, set a record at 91 degrees, and Fargo, North Dakota, set a daily record at 97 degrees.
An excessive heat warning is in effect in Arizona, southern California and parts of Utah, with heat advisories in effect throughout the South, Southwest and Great Plains, bringing “dangerously hot conditions” and a heat index—how hot it feels outside when humidity is taken into consideration—into the 120s and 130s in some areas. Forecasters urged residents to stay hydrated in air-conditioned rooms, avoid strenuous outdoor activity and take “extra precautions” while outside.
More daily heat records. Forecasters warn southwestern cities, including Phoenix—which is in the midst of an unrelenting multi-week heat wave—could continue to set records this week, while heat warnings could keep toppling daily records from California to Florida and throughout the Great Plains.
Forecasters expect the early-season heat waves to be a sign of things to come, as a weather phenomenon called El Niño develops, bringing warmer air north, and as scientists warn the effects of climate change from greenhouse gas emissions will continue to drive temperatures upward, prolong drought conditions and make wildfires more frequent and strong. Roughly 1,500 cities and towns in the U.S. broke daily heat records over a 30-day period ending last September, as heat waves spread throughout the U.S., as well as the U.K. and southern Europe. So far this year, a heat wave in China took down single-day records in China, while in the U.K., forecasters are warning of the hottest year on record.
A scorching 119-degree high at Big Bend National Park in west Texas on June 23 came within one degree of tying an all-time temperature record for the state of Texas, which was set in 1936. Death Valley National Park came within three degrees of breaking the Earth’s all-time temperature record on July 16, when thermometers in Furnace Creek reached 128 degrees, just shy of a 130-degree record set in the park that is believed to be the hottest reliably-recorded temperature on the planet.
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