We all know that Arizona is hot, but this year, the state’s capital city has set a heat record after hitting 110 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday, marking the 54th day the temperature has been reached this year.
The previous record of 53 days at 110 degrees was first set in 2020, but the National Weather Service says that Saturday’s new record has the potential to continue growing by at least one more day.
“We do have one more day,” National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Salerno shared with the Associated Press.
The weather is expected to hit 111 degrees on Sunday and 106 on Monday, keeping extreme heat warnings in place across the state.
Thermometers hitting 110 degrees is nothing new for Phoenix, as the area hit the mark for 31 days straight in July, shattering the previous record of 18 days, according to meteorologists.
The average daily temperature in Phoenix in June, July, and August was 97 degrees, surpassing the previous record of 96.7 degrees in 2020.
Salerno shared that the average temperature in July alone was 102.7 degrees, while it was 98.8 in August.
However, the heat wasn’t specific to Arizona this year, as the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Services reported that June to August was the Earth’s warmest period since records began in 1940.
The heat is also just one form of weather to hit the country and the world, as other extreme weather has also rocked the nation.
When looking at the months ahead, the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, Petteri Taalas, shared that the extreme weather that comes from higher temperatures is going to be just as devastating as it was this past summer.
“The Northern Hemisphere just had a summer of extremes – with repeated heatwaves fueling devastating wildfires, harming health, disrupting daily lives, and wreaking a lasting toll on the environment,” Taalas said in a statement.
So far this year, there have been 194 heat-associated deaths as of Sept. 2 in Maricopa County. Officials are still investigating an additional 351 cases.