PHOENIX — Yes, the greater Phoenix area has broken the record for the number of consecutive days above 110° with 19, but if you ask a Valley veteran, they may tell you about June 26, 1990.
That day was recorded to be the hottest day ever for Phoenix.
"I've escaped to the pines, as you can see behind me,” said Doug Mummert, retired Phoenix battalion chief.
When you're retired like Mummert, you seek cooler temps this time of year, partially because he lived through the hottest day ever recorded in Phoenix, 122° degrees by 2 p.m.
“Say someone is crossing the street or riding their bike and they get hit by a car. They can get receive 3rd degree burns just by their contact with the pavement,” recalled Mummert.
He added there were days of temps 110° and above leading up to that peak of 122°.
"The day before that, we hit a 120° and thought, this is not good,” he said.
During a time when we didn't have smartphones with constant heat warnings, the story many Valley veterans recall is at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Some older model planes at Sky Harbor didn't have guidance on how to fly in temps over 120°, so the flights were grounded on that day until temps cooled down.
Sky Harbor officials tell us, the majority of airlines that serve Sky Harbor have updated their performance charts with new data that goes to and above 122°.
Arizona State climatologist Erinanne Saffell remembers the hottest day ever for Phoenix.
"It was oppressive, it was like when you open up the oven and that hot dry air comes right at you,” she said.
She added cooling centers and outreach programs for vulnerable communities weren't as prevalent as they are today but with the addition to all the heat-absorbing pavement that makes up our urban landscape in the Valley, we're not cooling off at night like we should, making days even hotter.
"In the early 1900s, there were about five days where we reached 110 and higher, now we're at five times that amount. That's being impacted by our urban heat island,” she said.
For an even deeper perspective on how the Valley has grown and heat has increased energy demand, Patty Garcia-Liken with Salt River Project (SRP) dug back into their archives and discovered this:
SRP delivered a record retail peak demand of 3,373 megawatts on June 26, 1990. To put that into perspective, SRP had about 538,000 customers in 1990, compared to just over 1 million customers today.
SRP has delivered a multi-day record peak electricity demand surpassing previous records for most power served to customers in summer. On July 14 and July 15, SRP delivered record estimated retail peak demand of 7,704 megawatts (MW) and 7,798 MW, respectively. Most recently, on July 17 between 5 and 6 p.m., SRP delivered its newest record peak of 7,997 MW. These peaks topped SRP’s previous system peak of 7,620 MW, which occurred on July 11, 2022.
Garcia-Likens added, “SRP is prepared to meet increased electricity demand during this week’s high temperatures.”
If you think this is hot – remember it can always be worse.
