The National Weather Service reports this has been Phoenix’s hottest spring on record.
Meteorologists define spring as March, April and May. Phoenix’s average temperature for those three months was 80.2 degrees, which is 6.4 degrees above normal.
This year’s unseasonably hot spring temperatures broke a record dating all the way back to 1989, when Phoenix’s average spring temperature was 77.7 degrees, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.
This year’s record was mostly driven by unprecedented heat in the month of March, when temperatures climbed nearly 20 degrees above normal on some days. The monthlong average for March ended up being an astonishing 12.5 degrees above normal.
Research from the organization World Weather Attribution showed the extreme heat throughout the U.S. West in March would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.
April and May temperatures were more typical, but still hotter than what’s expected for those months. April was 4.4 degrees above normal and May was 2.1 degrees above normal.
The record spring heat contributed to at least three deaths in Maricopa County, according to the county public health department. And 67 possible heat-related deaths from March, April and May are still under investigation — more than double the number of heat-related deaths that were under investigation at this point last year.
The record-hot spring followed Phoenix’s hottest winter on record and puts 2026 on-track to be among the hottest years on record in the Valley. 2024 and 2025 currently hold the records for the hottest and second-hottest year-round average temperatures in Phoenix.
As summer approaches, long-range forecasts show the Valley is likely to experience even more hotter-than-usual heat.
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