Excessive heat warning for metro Phoenix extended through Wednesday

PHOENIX – The Labor Day weekend excessive heat warning for metro Phoenix has been extended through Wednesday, authorities said.

The warning went into effect Saturday and was originally set to expire Monday.

“It’s definitely a long spell of very warm temperatures,” Bianca Feldkircher of the National Weather Service in Phoenix told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Tuesday morning.

The weather bureau’s forecast calls for a high of 110 on Tuesday and 107 on Wednesday, when the heat warning ends at 8 p.m.

Wednesday will be the Valley’s 19th, and possibly final, day of the year under an excessive heat warning.

“This hopefully will be the last very warm spell of the summer,” Feldkircher said.

There were 20 excessive heat warning days last year and 48 in 2020, according to National Weather Service records.

The Valley could feel the effects of Hurricane Kay later in the week, but probably nothing extreme in terms of wind or rain, Feldkircher said. However, the projected impact of the hurricane could change as it moves up the Pacific coast off Baja California in Mexico.

“It still looks like the bulk of it is going to be over SoCal [rather] than here in Phoenix,” she said.

“But we will see an increase in moisture, so we still could see some afternoon thunderstorms, if anything, with that increase in moisture in the Phoenix area.”

Hurricane Kay will track northward towards the southwest CONUS and potentially bring impacts to Arizona and California as early as Friday. A lot of uncertainties remain, but below you will find what we know and what we don't know at the current moment. #azwx #cawx pic.twitter.com/UJQ6zSxofd

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) September 6, 2022

The storm system is expected to bring temperatures down, even if it doesn’t bring much rainfall.

“By this weekend, we’re sitting in the 90s again,” Feldkircher said.

Per city of Phoenix policy, Camelback Mountain’s Echo Canyon and Cholla trails and all Piestewa Peak hiking trails are closed from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on days when excessive heat warnings are active.

Regional planning agency Maricopa Association of Governments has an online map of heat relief sites that operate during excessive heat warnings.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.

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