Needles, California, has broken Phoenix’s record for the hottest monthly temperature in a U.S. city.
The Arizona State Climate Office recorded the city as achieving a preliminary average July temperature at 103.2 degrees.
Needles is located right at Arizona’s western border near the Mojave Desert.
“It's kind of rare to have monthly temperatures be above 100 degrees. So when we're looking at these numbers, we're looking at what's going on for the cities where people are actually living," said Erinanne Saffell, a climatologist with the Arizona State Climate Office.
The previous record for the hottest monthly temperature was achieved by Phoenix last year at 102.7 degrees. This comes as Phoenix set a new daily temperature record for the date of Aug. 3 at 116 degrees, on Saturday.
Phoenix is happy to relinquish the record to Needles, now the hottest monthly U.S. city with 103.2°F (preliminary avg July temp).
— AZ State Climate (@AZStateClimate) August 1, 2024
Arizona welcomes a few new members to the 100°F+ monthly temp club: Palm Springs (100.0°F) and Blythe (100.7°F). Welcome?
This is the 2nd time… pic.twitter.com/0IxUByqtWk
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Saffell’s name.
