One West Coast city broke an all-time record high of 124° Friday, and it’s not in Arizona
PALM SPRINGS, CA (AZFamily) — Phoenix wasn’t the only west coast city to shatter extreme heat records on Friday.
The award for the hottest city on Friday goes to our friends just a few hours west: Palm Springs, California, where the mercury hit an all-time high of 124 degrees.
That sweltering high broke the city’s old record of 123 degrees which occurred three separate times; in 1993, 1995, and 2021.
According to the National Weather Service’s office in San Diego, several cities in the Coachella Valley tied or broke new records for July 5.
The temperature reading for Palm Springs was taken at 3:53 p.m., according to SFGATE.
Which other Southern California cities broke or tied records?
| LOCATION | NEW RECORD | OLD RECORD | PERIOD OF RECORD |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jacinto | 114° | 106 in 2008 | 1948 |
| Idyllwild | 104° | 99 in 2007 | 1943 |
| Palomar Mountain | 97° | 97 in 2007 | 1901 |
| Campo | 109° | 108 in 2007 | 1948 |
| Palm Springs | 124° | 120 in 1931 | 1893 |
| Borrego | 118° | 118 in 1989 | 1965 |
Heatwave to linger, but for how long?
A slow-moving and potentially record-setting heatwave is spreading across the Western U.S., the National Weather Service said.
In Phoenix, Sky Harbor Airport reached 118 degrees by 3 p.m., breaking the record daily high of 116º that was set in 1983
It’s sending many residents searching for a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. The Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. are also sweltering, with oppressive heat and humidity expected to last through Saturday.
The National Weather Service said widespread temperature records are expected to be tied or even broken during the heat wave, with much of the West Coast likely to see triple-digit temperatures between 15 and 30 degrees higher than average.
“The duration of this heat is also concerning as scorching above average temperatures are forecast to linger into next week,” the weather service said.
In Maricopa County, there have been at least 13 confirmed heat-related deaths this year, while the causes of more than 160 other suspected heat deaths were still under investigation, according to the county’s most recent report on such deaths through June 29.
That doesn’t include the death of a 10-year-old boy earlier this week in Phoenix, who suffered a “heat-related medical event” while hiking with his family at South Mountain Park and Preserve, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
Among extremes, the forecast for Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park calls for daytime highs of 129 degrees on Sunday and then around 130 degrees through Wednesday.
The official world record for the hottest temperature recorded on Earth was 134 degrees in Death Valley in July 1913. Still, some experts dispute that measurement and say the real record was 130 recorded there in July 2021.
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