Phoenix Just Had Its Hottest August Day Ever

Phoenix experienced its hottest August day ever recorded Thursday, with temperatures hitting 118 degrees Fahrenheit. The previous record high for August was 117 degrees, set in 2011, 2015, 2020, and 2023. Thursday also broke the record for the warmest overnight low, AZFamily.com reports. Temps only got down to 94 degrees by 5am; the previous record, set in 2023, was 91 degrees. The average August temperature in Phoenix is 106 degrees. The current wave of even more extreme heat is expected to last until Friday night.

"Places like Arizona are absolutely entering uncharted territory when it comes to heat," a climate scientist tells the Weather Channel. "In recent summers, we've seen prolonged stretches of extreme temperatures that break not just daily records but monthly and even all-time records." Around 40 million people were under heat alerts from California to Minnesota on Thursday, NBC News reports.