Phoenix Breaks Record With 100th Straight Day of 100-Degree Temps

In Phoenix, residents haven’t lived through an under-100 degree day in more than as many days. That’s a record.

The Arizona capital reached the 101st straight day of 100-degree Fahrenheit (°F) weather on Wednesday. It shattered a record of 76 straight days of 100°F-plus weather set in 1993, says the National Weather Service (NWS).

It's a deadly record. And it comes amid a massive heat wave for the western US. Temperatures are gauged to break records across the region through today. People across the southern stretches of Arizona, California, and Nevada face extreme heat warnings. People of inland Oregon and Washington state face warnings too.  

This early September weather “will make HeatRisk levels increase into the major or extreme,” the Phoenix NWS office said. The NWS warned that most residents risk “heat-related illnesses” if they’re not properly prepared.  

In Phoenix and larger Maricopa County, 177 people have died from extreme heat in 2024, officials said. Some have died by simply falling on pavement. This figure was as of August 31. An added 436 deaths are being looked into as heat-linked, the county said. If confirmed, that would be almost equal to the 645 people who died from the heat in 2023.   

“I would like the public to understand that this heat is no longer a rare (event),” public health expert Juan Declet-Barreto told The Guardian.” He's a senior social scientist. He's part of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It will continue to get worse year after year if we don’t make drastic emissions reductions,” he said. “There’s no way around that if we want cities like Phoenix to be livable.”

Reflect: What steps do you think you would take to stay safe and comfortable during days of extreme heat?