122: A legendary number in Phoenix weather history
It was a day that will live, if not in infamy, at least in legend.
Ten years ago today at 2:47 p.m., the National Weather Service thermometer at Sky Harbor International Airport registered 122 degrees, the all-time hottest day ever in the Valley.
The heat was suspected of contributing to three deaths. In a city where a high of 100 is considered a pretty nice day, everything simply stopped.
Some industrial customers lost power so that air-conditioners could keep running. Softball games, greyhound races and scores of other public events were canceled. For a few hours, the airport grounded some jets because officials weren’t sure what happens to an airplane when it gets that hot: Their manuals only went to 120 degrees.
Other planes took off with only half their usual number of passengers and without their luggage.
Steve Cox of Scottsdale, a pilot for American Airlines, was getting ready to take off in a DC-10 that afternoon.
”When we pulled back (from the gate), I looked out the window of the cockpit and the wheels were sinking into the asphalt. It was melting. The tug just kept pushing us back until we were on the (solid) cement,” Cox said.
Tony Haffer was working at the National Weather Service here, monitoring a high pressure system. A strong high pressure system means the air is compressed by its own weight, which heats up the air molecules. He compared it to setting a nail on an anvil and pounding it with a hammer. When you pick up the nail, it will be warm.
The whole Southwest baked. It was 122 in Blythe, Calif., 102 in Los Angeles and 120 in Death Valley. Even Alpine, high in the White Mountains in eastern Arizona, sweltered under a high of 90.
While surviving June 26, 1990, may give people bragging rights, there is one thing to keep in mind: The highest reading ever in Arizona was 128 degrees, June 29, 1994, in Lake Havasu City.
Now that’s hot.