Arizona on course to have one of warmest years in history

PHOENIX — Arizona saw its third warmest temperatures on record for the first eight months of the year.

Mark O’Malley with the National Weather Service said those numbers have a lot to do with the excessive warmth over the first six months of the year.

“August was actually cooler than average for much of the state with all of the rainfall and that helped bring us down a little bit,” he said.

Arizona was hit several massive storms over a three-week span. On Monday, the record for single-day rainfall was smashed when 3.3 inches fell at Phoenix Sky Harbor. The rain caused prolonged flooding and many were unable to drive to work. Gov. Jan Brewer declared a state of emergency along with several cities.

Earlier in the month, one storm caused massive flooding along Interstate 17 north of Phoenix, just days after multiple homes in South Phoenix were overrun with water.

The widespread flooding lead Brewer to request federal assistance for homeowners.

However, a majority of 2014 has been hot. Really hot.

“The dry and warm weather, especially in the spring, boosted our temperatures,” O’Malley said.

In July, the weather service issued an excessive heat watch for the state. Temperatures were expected to be as high as 118 degrees in some areas.

The expected jump in temperatures saw the standard warnings issued, including to not leave pets in cars.

The daytimes highs and overnight lows combined to match the record for the first eight months of the year with an average of 79.1 degrees. Tucson had the warmest temps on record at an average of 73.9 degrees and Flagstaff was at 49.9 degrees.

O’Malley said the warm temperatures could continue through the fall.

“We hope that will change and we don’t set any all-time records but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Arizona gets so hot that it can actually damage business reputations. The Better Business Bureau said it sees a rise of complaints during sweltering summers.

KTAR’s Mark Remillard contributed to this report.