The extreme heat of Phoenix – capital of Arizona and one of the most populous cities in the United States – entered the record books today by registering the 19th consecutive day with temperatures of at least 43 degrees Celsius.
No other major US city has recorded 43-degree days like Phoenix, said meteorological historian Christopher Burt of the US Weather Company.
“It’s the longest sequence we’ve ever seen in this country,” said NOAA Climate Analysis Group director Russell Vose, who chairs the national records committee.
On Monday, the heat broke a record in the capital of Arizona and on the night of Monday to Tuesday the temperature did not drop enough for cooling and the thermometer reached 37.8 C today before 09:00, for the sixth consecutive day .
It’s “very sad when there’s no overnight recovery,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Salerno, referring to Phoenix’s overnight low dropping to just 34.4C for the ninth day in a row. with temperatures above 32.2 C, another record.
“Prolonged exposure to heat is harder to bear than single hot days, especially if you’re not cooling off at night enough to sleep well,” said Katharine Jacobs, director of the Center for Climate Adaptation Sciences and Solutions at the University of Arizona. .
The Phoenix heat wave has both long-term and short-term causes, said Randy Cerveny of Arizona State University, who coordinates verification of weather records for the World Meteorological Organization.
“The long term is the continuation of the increase in temperatures over the last few decades due to human influence on the climate, while the short term cause is the persistence in recent weeks of a very strong wave of high pressure in the western United States,” he said.
*With Lusa
