PHOENIX – The relentless heat wave in Phoenix has set several records that not only rewrote national records but placed Phoenix among some of the world’s hottest cities, rivaling heat typically seen in the Middle East.
The average high temperature in Phoenix for July was 114.7 degrees – easily the city’s hottest month ever recorded and breaking the old record, set in August 2020, by a full 4 degrees.
The overall average temperature, calculated by factoring in the high and low temperatures each day, reached 102.74 – also an all-time record for the city, breaking the previous record of 99.1 also set in August 2020. Phoenix is now the first major city in the U.S. ever to average 100 degrees or more for a month.
Before this July, the only populated cities (excluding areas such as Death Valley) to have accomplished the feat were Needles, California, at 100.47 degrees in August 2020 and Lake Havasu City, Arizona, which in July 1996 averaged 99.97 degrees, according to the FOX Forecast Center.
Phoenix now tops that chart, though Needles was close behind this month at 101.8 degrees for second place. Death Valley’s average temperature for July was 107.6 degrees, its second-hottest on record behind July 2018’s 108.1-degree average temperature.
It’s not just national records falling, but Phoenix is now ranking internationally for hottest months.
Worldwide, Phoenix’s July now sits in 21st place for ranking cities’ hottest months on record – rivaling cities in Middle Eastern deserts.
Aside from smashing average monthly temperatures, July obliterated several other heat records: