This has been Phoenix’s hottest summer on record, with 109 consecutive days reaching triple-digit temperatures as of Thursday. But climate models show future summers are likely to be even hotter. And some say the city, state and federal government need to do more to prepare.
During a roundtable discussion Thursday about Phoenix’s climate future hosted by the group Climate Action Campaign, Melissa Guardaro, assistant research professor with ASU’s School of Sustainability, said extreme heat disproportionately impacts lower income communities. And she said temperatures will be even more dangerous as the climate changes.
“I think the important thing is to have these communities band together and to really demand of their representatives to make some changes in their neighborhood, to make sure that the transit stops are shaded, to make sure that there’s air conditioning assistance,” Guardaro said.
Guardaro said, compared to the rest of the country, Phoenix is ahead of the curve in terms of heat adaptations, including a large network of cooling centers which operate all summer long across the Valley.
But other panelists noted funding for many cooling centers the past few years has come from federal pandemic aid from the American Rescue Plan Act, which will run out in 2026.
“I’ve crunched the numbers,” said the Rev. Katie Sexton-Wood, executive director of the Arizona Faith Network, which operates many heat relief sites throughout the Valley. “‘What if there’s no money next year?’ Just through our private donation fundraising and our private foundations that donate to AFN, we can afford to run maybe two centers. We ran 17 this year.”
The number of heat-related deaths in Maricopa County has risen to a new record high every year since 2016. Sexton-Wood said cooling centers have saved lives as temperatures have risen and the Valley's unsheltered population has grown.
“Without government support, people will die,” Sexton-Wood said.