Arizona had its warmest September ever recorded, with temperatures reaching 119 degrees in parts of the state. Average Arizona temperatures have been gradually rising for several decades and this rise is expected to continue.
Meteorologist Austin Jamison is with the National Weather Service and said this increase is not isolated to Arizona.
“Much of the country experienced quite a bit of warmth and in general, in the West I think it’s fair to say, certainly in the interior West and the Southwest, we are more broadly seeing an uptrend in the past 20 years or so," Jamison said.
Jamison explained that increasing temperatures nationwide does not mean there will always be warm winters, or an outlier year. Year-to-year fluctuations will always naturally occur even as average temperatures continue to rise.
