A desert community in southwestern Arizona reached 110 degrees on Thursday, breaking a record for the highest March temperature recorded in the United States.
The record-setting temperature was recorded just outside Martinez Lake, Arizona, in the Yuma Desert, as a winter heat wave scorched the Southwest, according to the National Weather Service. The community is about 145 miles west of Phoenix and sits on the Arizona-California border.
“For some perspective, the average first 105-degree day of the year normally occurs on May 22nd,” the NWS said in a statement.
Several cities on Thursday experienced their hottest March day on record, according to the NWS.
Phoenix hits 105 degrees on Thursday
Phoenix reached 105 degrees surpassing the previous record of 102 degrees set Wednesday.
Wednesday also marked the earliest day of triple-digit temperatures in Phoenix. The last time Phoenix temperatures climbed above 100 during March was almost 40 years ago. Hiking trails around the city were closed Thursday because of the risk of heat illness.
It will continue to be 20 to 30 degrees above normal temperatures for March for the rest of the week in the Southwest before the mercury drops slightly starting Sunday.
‘Virtually impossible’ without climate change
“This is what climate change looks like in real time: extremes pushing beyond the bounds we once thought possible,” said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver. “What used to be unprecedented events are now recurring features of a warming world.”
March's heat would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, according to a report Friday by World Weather Attribution, an international group of scientists who study the causes of extreme weather events.
More than a dozen scientists, meteorologists and disaster experts queried by The Associated Press put the March heat wave in a kind of ultra-extreme classification with such events as the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave, the 2022 Pakistan floods and killer hurricanes Helene, Harvey and Sandy.
The area of the U.S. being hit by extreme weather in the past five years has doubled from 20 years ago, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Extremes Index, which includes various types of wild weather, such as heat and cold waves, downpours and drought.
The United States is breaking 77% more hot weather records now than in the 1970s and 19% more than the 2010s, according to an AP analysis of NOAA records. In the United States, the number and average cost of inflation-adjusted billion-dollar weather disasters in the last couple years is twice as high as just 10 years ago and nearly four times higher than 30 years ago, according to records kept by NOAA and Climate Central, a nonprofit group of scientists and communicators who research and report on climate change.
Metro Phoenix forecast from NWS
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 105. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 70. West southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 101. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 69. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 99. Calm wind becoming west southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 68. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 101. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 69. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 104. Calm wind becoming west southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 69. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
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The victim was an older adult male, but officials have not released any additional details about the case. Temperatures this spring have been much hotter than average. -
According to National Weather Service data, temperatures have averaged about 8.3 degrees above-normal so far this month – the third-hottest start to April on record in Phoenix. -
The Industrial Commission of Arizona voted to adopt heat safety guidelines for workplaces in the state. But labor groups still hope for enforceable regulations. -
Arizona labor groups are calling for state regulations to require specific protections from heat in workplaces. But actions from the state have so far fallen short of what workers have called for. -
As the Industrial Commission of Arizona considers workplace heat safety recommendations, some employers say they would welcome new heat rules, but others worry about overregulation.
