Cam Ferguson arrives at his place on the street near Chase Field—home of Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks—about four hours before first pitch to lay out his usual display of cold water, sports drinks, peanuts, and candy.
At game time, it’s about 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius) on this Labor Day afternoon in downtown Phoenix. Business is fast.
“Two out of five, but eight inside!” shouted another vendor, selling bottles of water. “Also, they have some climate problems there.”
It’s always hot this time of year in central Arizona, but 2024 looks set to be an endless summer with especially high temperatures in Phoenix. On Tuesday, the city reached its 100th straight day with at least 100-degree temperatures. That long broke the record of 76 consecutive days set in 1993, according to National Weather Service (NWS) data.
“That’s an eye-catching number,” NWS meteorologist Sean Benedict said.
The temperature reached 102 degrees F (38.9 C) in Phoenix on May 27 and has reached triple digits every day since.
Benedict said the long desert heat is often broken by rain, but the monsoon has yet to bring much. The unseasonable heat also started early, with triple-digit days already piling up in May.
It doesn’t look like a break is coming anytime soon.
Unseasonably high temperatures are expected this week across the Western US, with a heat warning forecast Wednesday through Friday for Arizona cities including Phoenix and Lake Havasu City, as well as Las Vegas and parts of Nevada, including Laughlin and Pahrump.
The California desert communities of Palm Springs, Twentynine Palms, Needles, and Barstow will also warm, with highs of up to 118 degrees F (47.7 C) in Death Valley’s Furnace Creek expected by the end of the week.
Public health officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County – where Phoenix is located, the hottest metro area in the US – say that as of August 24, there have been 150 heat-related deaths confirmed so far this year, and another 443 are still under investigation. There were 645 heat-related deaths last year in the region of about 4.5 million people.
Pretty much any way the data is processed, the year 2024 marks another record-breaking heat summer in Phoenix. It was the hottest summer of the year, covering the months of June, July, and August. And it’s the same story across the Western US with several places in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico setting records or coming close.
Across California, red flag warnings for increased wildfire danger were issued. A fire that broke out Monday and was fueled by variable winds knocked out power and forced the evacuation of more than 500 residents in a remote forest community near Lake Tahoe. The Bear Fire about 20 miles (32 km) north of Truckee grew to more than 2 square miles (5 square km) Tuesday morning, without power.
Cooling centers were set up across Los Angeles County, with officials urging residents to check on neighbors who are elderly, unwell or at risk due to rising temperatures. “Hot days aren’t just comfortable—they can be dangerous,” said LA County Health Officer Muntu Davis.
There is no respite from the heat for foreign sellers. It’s the same story for many other people in the Phoenix area, especially construction workers and landscapers.
Ferguson’s career outside of downtown Phoenix is hot. The concrete and asphalt throughout the city made it feel even hotter, as the heat radiated through the streets as more than 40,000 fans gathered for a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Diamondbacks.
“Lots of SPF shirts and ice cold water,” says Ferguson, about dealing with the heat. “That’s the only way to get through it.”
Chase Field can be air-conditioned and has a retractable roof that closes for most games during the summer, which is obviously convenient for fans and players. But keeping the big stadium cool in the summer is sometimes tricky, and players have occasionally commented on how stuffy it gets inside.
Ramiro Lopez has been landscaping in suburban Phoenix for five years and says each summer feels hotter than the last. When he works, he takes breaks in his air-conditioned truck to beat the heat, but the past three months have been miserable.
“I learned to drink a lot of sports drinks and make sure I finish by 1 p.m.,” Lopez said. Besides, it’s too big.
In Phoenix, there were 37 nights this summer that did not cool below 90 degrees F (32.2 C), another record.
There were also 54 days of 110-degree temperatures, just one day shy of breaking last year’s record of 55 days. That number could be broken later this week. Heat is hard on everyone, but it’s especially hard on low-income neighborhoods.
“Not being able to cool down at night can affect people’s health because heat can accumulate in the body,” wrote Arizona State University meteorologist Erinanne Saffell in an email response. “People should make sure they stay cool and hydrated.”
-David Brandt, The Associated Press
Anita Snow and Christopher Weber contributed to this report.
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