Why is it so hot?

There are several reasons Phoenix is so miserable in June.

WELDON B. JOHNSON

It’s so hot here for so long that many people take it for granted.

It’s hot in the summer, it’s going to be hot every summer — and there’s nothing we can do about it. So why? Why is Phoenix so hot?

High temperatures in the summer months routinely top 100 degrees and on rare occasions can creep beyond 120 degrees.

July has the hottest average high temperature (106.1 degrees compared to 103.9 in June), but the summer heat cranks in late June.

Three of the four hottest days on record in Phoenix — including the all-time high of 122 degrees on June 26, 1990 — have occurred in June.

Many factors contribute to the region’s sweltering climate, but we’ll boil it down to five.

The Phoenix area is only about 1,000 feet above sea level. Other parts of the state have the same desert landscape as Phoenix, and many of those places are farther south and closer to the equator.

But many of those places are at a higher elevation and therefore cooler.

Tucson, which has an elevation of about 2,300 feet is on average 3.6 degrees cooler than Phoenix in June.

That big H you see on a weather map represents high air pressure. It’s often behind Phoenix’s big June heat waves.

There’s a pretty persistent area of high pressure that generally hangs around the Southwest, which is a big factor in our sunny climate.

Because high pressure often results in clear, dry conditions, it contributes to Phoenix’s extreme heat.

In simple terms, long, sunny days at this time of year mean there is more time for heating up and less time for overnight cooling.

The urban heat island is a term used to describe the fact that concrete, asphalt and buildings in metro areas hold on to heat more than non-developed areas.

Development has caused temperatures, especially overnight lows, to increase.

According to the National Weather Service, the average overnight low for Phoenix in June 2016 was 82.1 degrees, which tied the record for that statistic set in 2015.

Those warm nights also allowed June 2016 to tie June 2013 for the warmest average temperature (adding average high and low and dividing by two) on record.