Environment
Arizona Prepares for a Historic, 'Deadly' Heat Wave
With temperatures as high as 120 degrees, it’s a good time to stay indoors.
The coming days will not be a time for Southwesterners to hike, bike, or do much of anything except camp in front of the A/C with the blinds closed. Brutally hot temperatures are expected to wash over the region, creating intolerable conditions of up to 120 degrees in Arizona and shattering records going back more than two decades.
The culprit for the heat wave is a strong blob of high pressure that’s expected to squat over the Southwest, squeezing the mercury ever-higher starting Friday. The 115-120 degrees predicted during the peak of the roasting would “set new records Sunday and Monday at many locations,” according to the National Weather Service in Phoenix, which provides this forecast of the “rare, dangerous, and deadly” heat: