Weather
It's always been hot here, sure. But it's never been this hot.
By Zach Buchanan
June 11, 2024
Nine of the 10 hottest Phoenix summers have occurred since the year 2000, according to data from the National Weather Service.Robert Brinkley Jr. via Pexels.com
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"Summer has always been hot in Phoenix."
That's a common refrain from climate change deniers, and in the most basic sense, they are not wrong. Summer has always been hot in Phoenix.
But it's never been this hot.
With the Valley already withering under 110-degree days, the summer of 2024 is off to a raging start. If it passes last year's ferocious season, it'll be one for the record books. After all, summer 2023 was the hottest summer Phoenix has ever endured.
The scorching seasons are a recent phenomenon. According to data from the National Weather Service going back 100 years, nine of Phoenix's 10 hottest summers have all come this century.
In 1924, the average temperature across June, July and August was 89.1 degrees Fahrenheit. Last year, the average temperature over the same span was 97.1 degrees.
click to enlarge
The average temperature across June, July and August in Phoenix has steadily risen over the past 100 years, according to data from the National Weather Service.
Illustration by Zach Buchanan
Here, in ascending order, are the 10 hottest summers in Phoenix history.
Hottest summers in Phoenix
10. 2022: 94.74 degrees
The summer of 2022 started off hot, with an average temperature of 94.2 degrees in June — seventh-highest ever — and 96.7 degrees in July. August provided some (relative) relief. The average that month was 93.3 degrees, only the 30th-highest in the last 100 years.
9. 2011: 94.81 degrees
June was a breeze in 2011, averaging only 90.8 degrees. July averaged 95.5 degrees — hot, but not extremely so for Phoenix. It was August that was the killer. The average August temperature was 98.3 degrees, the third-highest August in Phoenix ever. You'll see the two hotter ones later on in this list.
8. 1981: 94.82 degrees
Ah, the Eighties! A time of weird music and weirder clothes. Unfortunately, the temperature didn't stay in the 80s this particular year, a true outlier for the decade. The next hottest '80s summer came in 1989, with an average of 94.4 degrees.
7. 2002: 94.85 degrees
Fun fact: The summer of 2002 doesn't rank in the top 10 for any individual month. But it was so consistently hot that year, it lands here as the seventh-hottest of all time.
6. 2019: 94.91 degrees
This summer was another late bloomer — or, late swelterer? — starting off cool and ramping up to an average of 96.8 degrees in August, the fourth-hottest August in the last 100 years.
5. 2007: 94.92 degrees
Another year with a blistering August, which averaged 96.2 degrees, the seventh-highest for that month. But 2007 leaps ahead of 2019 thanks to a slightly hotter (but still relatively mild) June that averaged 92.7 degrees.
4. 2013: 95.07 degrees
Some years lull you into a false sense of security. Others, like 2013, kick you in the mouth immediately. Averaging 94.8 degrees, June 2013 was the third-hottest June on record.
3. 2015: 95.11 degrees
This particular summer had a hot June, a hot August and a run-of-the-mill July, which averaged only 94.7, ranking 31st for that month.
2. 2020: 96.72 degrees
Well, if we were going to be locked inside for one summer, it might as well have been 2020. That July was the second-hottest on record with an average of 98.9 degrees. August was the hottest August ever at 99.1 degrees.
And then the world got better, right? Right?
1. 2023: 97.08 degrees
Wrong! For the hottest summer on record, 2023 really messed with our brains. June actually averaged lower than 90 degrees! But then July averaged 102.7 degrees — the first summer month to ever reach triple digits — and August was only slightly cooler at 98.8 degrees, still the second-hottest August we've ever seen.
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