This is how Phoenix is surviving its worst-ever heat wave

A little before 7 a.m. Wednesday, the official National Weather Service thermometer at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport registered 97 degrees, the lowest reading since the previous morning and the lowest it would go all day.

By 10:49 a.m., the temperature climbed to 110 degrees, the 20th consecutive day Phoenix had reached that mark. At 2:42 p.m., the day topped out at 119, a daily temperature record for July 19. That made the day’s average temperature 108 degrees.

It also made Wednesday the hottest day on record in Phoenix, hotter even than the day in 1990 when planes stopped landing and taking off at the airport as the temperature set an all-time record of 122 degrees. The average that day, with a lower morning reading of 91, was 106.5 degrees.

In the time between Wednesday morning’s low of 97 and the afternoon high of 119, people went to work, indoors and out. Kids in a handful of school districts returned to the classroom. Several thousand people in the East Valley lost power and sweltered without air conditioning for hours. Authorities cleared out another section of "The Zone" in central Phoenix, forcing people with no homes to seek relief elsewhere.

And as the sun started to set, hardy souls played tennis and pickleball in city parks, and a sell-out crowd of country music fans lined up to see Morgan Wallen at Chase Field.

And on Thursday, America’s hottest big city was at it again, with another high-temperature reading of 119 degrees. It was day 21 over 110 degrees, with the monsoon pretty much a no-show.

“​​Right now, it is really getting bad and getting hotter," said Joseph Valdez, 31, who was working construction Thursday morning for MT Builders Companies at an apartment complex site on Southern Avenue and 32nd Street.

"I know this year I've been sweating more than last year,” he said. “My shirt's pretty much drenched, looks like I just took a dip in the pool. I feel like last year wasn't as bad as this year."

Working nearby, Roman López, 52, said he has worked in construction in Arizona since 1997, but this summer has felt worse compared to past ones because of how long the weather has stayed dry.

"It feels very dry, and no rain," López said. "But over time, you just deal with it."

The heat wave in numbers

Three weeks in, the numbers behind the heat wave seem to be crashing into each other, one record broken after another. Some numbers are grim: So far, 18 people have died from heat-related causes in Maricopa County and authorities are investigating at least 69 deaths that may be connected to the heat.

About one-third of the confirmed deaths were from the unhoused population, people unable to seek shelter when the heat worsens. About one-third were people age 75 or older. In 2022, the heat killed 425 people by the end of the year.

'Painful to experience': Unhoused population faces brunt of scorching heatwave

The numbers from the National Weather Service are increasingly records, set and broken and set again from day to the next: most consecutive 110-degree days (21 and counting), most consecutive 90-degree nights (11 and counting), hottest day ever. Wednesday’s records stood out, especially the low temperature of 97 degrees.

“Because we have those higher low temperatures, we aren’t able to get any of that overnight relief to kind of help us cool down our temperatures before they start to escalate again as the sun comes up,” said Jessica Leffel, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Phoenix office. “We aren’t able to get any adequate cooling to help temperatures decline a little bit, so it’s only contributing to those hotter temperatures and allowing us to get even hotter higher temperatures as well.”

The lack of nighttime cooling has set this July stretch of hot days apart from others. In 1974, temperatures reached 110 degrees or higher for 18 consecutive days, setting the record that was broken earlier this week. The average high in that period was about the same as this year. But the average low was 10 degrees cooler.

The difference is nearly 50 years of growth. The city’s buildings, streets and parking lots now absorb more of the heat and release it at night, an effect known as the urban heat island.

The science: Phoenix is not prepared for a simultaneous heat wave and blackout, new research shows

Monsoon storms typically break hot streaks in July, but Leffel said conditions are not optimal for the development of those storms and the lack of moisture amplifies the prolonged heat.

“Our typical average temperature for July right now is between 106 and 107 degrees, so right now we’re well above normal,” she said. “And the reason our average is so significantly less is because we would usually have those monsoonal thunderstorms develop around this time.”

Scientists say the effects of climate change are evident this summer amid searing temperatures and other extreme weather conditions.

Some seek shelter where they can find it

Around the Human Services Campus in central Phoenix, dozens of people sat outside in wide-brimmed hats Thursday, careful to stay out of direct sunlight.

The campus is a collaborative of nonprofits that provide resources for people experiencing homelessness in downtown Phoenix. It sits at the center of “The Zone,” the city’s largest homeless encampment, which is slowly being cleared under court order.

One of the organizations on the campus, St. Vincent de Paul, serves hundreds of people each day in a dining room on the campus. On Thursday, 700 people were given lunch. Following the meal, the room is converted into a dark, cool place for people to rest and watch a movie.

Tameka Hess, 37, and Mike Rossetti, 22, and their newly adopted husky, Hondo, stayed for the movie Thursday. Hondo got comfortable in his new dog stroller, a bowl of water by his side. The three make sure to find cool places across the city whenever possible.

“That’s the only thing you can do, really,” Hess said.

Patrick O’Flynn, who also camped out for the film, said sometimes, when the heat gets bad enough, he’ll head to a doctor’s office waiting room just to have air conditioning for a bit.

O’Flynn, 25, said he’s concerned about elderly people living outside.

“I worry about them more,” he said.

On Wednesday, Phoenix cleared another block of The Zone, the fifth since May 10.

For others, the games continue

Many people across metro Phoenix tried to work or play through the heat, which meant taking extra precautions.

The Mesa Tennis and Pickleball Complex offers residents a place to play their favorite sports. Even as the heat has been cooking the area for weeks, people still come out.

Andrea Moore, director of parks for Mesa, said the city tries to mitigate heat-related accidents at their parks.

“Take it easy, make sure you give yourself rest breaks, it’s really important,” Moore said. “Encouraging people to come out in the mornings is really important.”

Tennis practices have continued for children almost every afternoon. Sarah Patton, who has lived in Mesa for 12 years, brings two of her daughters, 8 and 9 years old, to enjoy some time outside.

“When you mention that we're going to get out, they are like ‘No, it's so hot,’” Patton said. “Once they get out, they have fun.”

Cities across the region track temperatures and sometimes close facilities early or limit activities. In Tempe, a few programs offer summer classes or leagues, such as boating classes on Tempe Town Lake, and programs that can take place in the early morning or evening hours, said Tempe spokesperson Savannah Harrelson.

In Chandler, sports clinics are canceled if temperatures reach 110 degrees, said spokesperson Toni Smith. In Scottsdale, tennis centers close from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. during the summer, spokesperson Ann Porter said, so most activities take place in the early morning or after the sun goes down.

In Gilbert, the parks and recreation department is seeing a drop in daytime use at pickleball and tennis courts in town, said the department's Eva Kirschbaum, though, “users are still braving the heat in the early morning and the evenings.”

At the Phoenix Humane Society Shelter at South Mountain, workers are also limiting heat exposure to the more than 250 animals kept and cared for there.

Linda Anderson, director of animal care, has been working there for the last decade. She said this heat wave ranks among the worst she's seen.

The pets are kept in air-conditioned pens, and measures like pool baths and morning walks are taken to keep the pets cool.

“Though we are at record highs with our overall temperatures, we navigate this every summer,” Anderson said. “We employ all our strategies.”

Samantha Sorbello, enrichment specialist at the shelter, said once the temperature reaches 95 degrees, "we shorten our walks for our dogs down to five minutes.”

Staying cool: How Phoenix zookeepers help animals beat the heat

Escaping the heat in the high country

Temperatures in Flagstaff were still in the low 80s by mid-morning Thursday as the pickleball courts in Bushmaster Park began to fill up. Among the players were three visitors from Mesa, in town to escape the crushing heat in the Valley.

"Fortunately, we're blessed with the opportunity to get away from the heat, so that's a big plus," said Dave Ritson, who along with his wife, Becky, was in town for a few days.

Temperatures this time of year in Flagstaff typically range in the 80s. But last week, the city saw a five-day stretch above 90 degrees. Last Wednesday, Flagstaff saw its highest temperature of the year, 95 degrees, just two degrees cooler than the hottest day ever recorded in the city since record-keeping began more than 100 years ago.

The Ritsons' friend Debbie Singleton is also in town to escape the heat in Mesa, something she said she's done for the last three or four years. It’s a much-needed reprieve.

"Number one, I can sleep," Singleton said of the benefits of the cooler weather. "Because to be able to come out and play pickleball at home we have to get up at 5 (a.m.) to be on the courts at 6 (a.m.)."

In the higher elevations above Tucson, at the top of Mount Lemmon, The Cookie Cabin, with its pizza, giant cookies and ice cream, has seen a steady stream of customers fleeing the heat. Temperatures reached the 80s on the mountain compared to 111 degrees in Tucson.

“It’s definitely been really busy since we've had that spike in the heat. People come up here to get away from there. We hit our record up here this past week,” said Ana Maritato, a manager at the establishment. “We ran out of product real quick.”

The restaurant has doubled its sales records for this time of year, she said.

With so many customers, Maritato said her boss’ daughter has been helping her mother at the restaurant, zooming down the windy roads of Mount Lemmon into Tucson to get more ingredients.

“Not an easy task,” she said. Mount Lemmon, located just north of Tucson, is the highest mountain in the Santa Catalina Mountains with a summit of over 9,000 feet.

'You gotta beat the heat'

During hot stretches of the summer, many workers with outdoor jobs start their days as the sun rises to avoid the worst of the afternoon heat. That’s long been the case for construction workers like López and Valdez, who start their shifts at 5:30 a.m. or earlier.

Even then, the relief is short-lived.

"It's still pretty hot at that time," Valdez said. "It's easier when the sun's down because you can find some shade, but it's still around the same heat, I feel like it doesn't change that much."

Valdez said sometimes he likes to show up as early as 4 a.m. to escape the heat, and in the afternoon, he goes home an hour or an hour-and-a-half earlier, around 1 p.m.

Still, last weekend he suffered a heat stroke while working at another site. As he was breaking concrete at a house, Valdez said he felt very nauseous, light-headed and his vision blurred out. In the middle of the work shift, he went home and started feeling better shortly after, he said.

López, too, has experienced heat illness symptoms while working in the heat. He said he used to work replacing air conditioning at houses, a job that can get particularly hard when working inside attics, he said, where temperatures can soar to 150 degrees inside.

"I got sick that way," he said. "I got major cramping throughout my body, uncontrollable cramping, and after it went away, up to a week later from being so cramped, I felt the soreness."

How to stay safe in the heat: Are you drinking enough water? Here is how to avoid dehydration

López and Valdez advised people working outdoors in the heat to stay hydrated, eat healthy and go inside to cool down when needed.

But their main advice was to know your limits at work and get plenty of rest after the shift has ended.

"Try not to overwork yourself. Especially with the heat, it drains you even more, so you gotta try to work at a certain pace," Valdez said. "You gotta beat the heat, or the heat is gonna beat you."

— Jake Frederico, Helen Rummel, Fernando Cervantes, Laura Sepulveda, Sam Kmack, Maritza Dominguez, Lacey Latch, Sarah Lapidus and Taylor Seely contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How Phoenix is surviving its worst-ever heat wave