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.
daily record high at 118 degrees—marking 23 straight days with daily highs in the city above 110 degrees.
Salt Lake City set a daily record high with thermometers reading 105 degrees, while Phoenix set yet anotherEl Paso, Texas, broke its daily record for the fifth straight day, with a daily high of 107.
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 at 90 degrees, according to National Weather Service data.
Phoenixbroke 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
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.
Phoenix set a record for most days in a row with highs of 110 degrees or higher, reaching the mark for theLas 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.
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.
Salt Lake CityFlagstaff, 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.
tied a daily temperature record at a high of 114 degrees, tying a record set in 2020.
PhoenixFort Lauderdale, Florida, tied its daily high temperature, at 96 degrees.
fourth-straight day and for the fifth time over just six days, at 96 degrees.
Miami broke its daily temperature record for theTucson, Arizona, set a record daily high, with thermometers reading 110 degrees, breaking the city’s previous record by one degree.
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.
Portland, Oregon, reached a sweltering 98 degrees, breaking the city’sdaily 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 set aTampa 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).
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.
Miami set its second-consecutive daily temperaturesecond hottest day on record, while Miami broke another daily record with a temperature of 95 degrees.
Roswell, New Mexico, set another daily high at 112 degrees, the city’sAs the heat wave stretched east, New Orleans set a new daily record at 98 degrees, beating its former high of 97 set last year.
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).
Roswell, New MexicoSan 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).
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).
The Florida KeysLaredo 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).
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).
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,broke a daily heat record (95 degrees).
Miami broke a daily record with a temperature of 95 degrees—toppling a record that had stood for 12 years—while Fort LauderdaleCincinnati 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 Nevada, with heat advisories in effect throughout the South and Southwest, 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.
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.