Phoenix breaks daily high temperature record for 3rd consecutive day
Jul 20, 2023, 12:41 PM | Updated: 4:13 pm
Roni and John pour water on themselves to cool off from extreme heat while residing in "The Zone," a vast homeless encampment where hundreds of people reside, during a record heat wave in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 19, 2023. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/ Getty Images)
(Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/ Getty Images)
PHOENIX – A record-shattering heat wave continued frying Phoenix on Thursday, as the city set a new daily high temperature mark for the third consecutive day.
The record fell at 12:32 p.m. when the mercury hit 115 degrees at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which the National Weather Service uses for the city’s official readings.
The previous high temperature for July 20 was 114, set in 1978.
The temperature reached 119 degrees, just the seventh time in history and second time in as many days.
The high so far today at Phoenix Sky Harbor is 119°F. This beats the previous daily record high by 5°F and is only the 7th time Sky Harbor has reached 119°F or above. #azwx
— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) July 20, 2023
In the latest streak within a hot streak, Phoenix has matched or broken a daily record every day since Monday, when it equaled the previous July 17 high of 116.
It reached 118 on Tuesday, breaking the 1989 record for the date by 3 degrees.
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That was just a warmup for Wednesday, when it hit 119, tying the fourth-hottest day since the National Weather Service started keeping data for Phoenix in 1896. The previous high for July 19 was 116 in 1989.
How long is Phoenix’s streak of 110-degree days
The temperature in Phoenix has now reached at least 110 degrees for a record 21 consecutive days. The streak started June 30 and earlier this week surpassed the previous mark of 18 days from 1974.
According to weather historian Christopher Burt of the Weather Company, no other major U.S. city has seen a longer stretch of days reaching at least 110 degrees.
Another heat streak stayed alive Thursday when the morning low temperature remained above 90 degrees for the 11th day in a row, four days longer than the previous record.
This is now the 11th consecutive day with low temperatures at or above 90 degrees and also ties the warm low record that was set back in 2020. #azwx
— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) July 20, 2023
The temperature bottomed out at 93 degrees Thursday morning, which was 4 degrees cooler than the previous morning. Wednesday’s low of 97 degrees was the warmest low ever recorded in Phoenix.
Highs are expected to stay above 110 and lows in the 90s for at least the next week, according to the National Weather Service’s seven-day forecast.
Valley remains under excessive heat warning
The Valley has been under an excessive heat warning for the entire month of July. The warning has been extended multiple times and is now set to expire at 8 p.m. Sunday. It could be extended again if conditions don’t change.
The National Weather Service issues excessive heat warnings to alert communities about potentially dangerous heat. The warnings, which began in 2006, are based on several factors, not just temperatures.
The current warning, which entered its 20th day Thursday, is the longest ever for the Valley. Previously, the region’s longest excessive heat warning lasted 10 days in June 2017.
