2020 was 2nd hottest, 2nd driest year in Ariz.
High temperatures are here to stay, experts say
Arizona in 2020 saw its second hottest and second driest year on record with Phoenix seemingly leading the way, according to weather officials.
The year ended with an average temperature of 62.6 degrees, which was slightly below 2017’s record of 63 degrees, according to Meteorologist Bianca Feldkircher with the National Weather Service in Phoenix.
Precipitation across the state in 2020 was 6.63 inches, making it the second driest year on record after 1956 with 6.04 inches of precipitation, Feldkircher said.
Although Arizona saw some precipitation at the beginning of the year, Feldkircher explained that a change in the monsoon pattern combined with an El Niño pattern over the winter months contributed to Arizona’s dry and warm conditions this year.
The monsoon pattern “was pretty much suppressed southwards, so the high pressure was like right over us instead of being a little further north near the Four Corners, and that wasn’t allowing any moisture to come in,” she said.
“And then with high pressure just sitting on top of us, that was also resulting in those warm temperatures that we saw during the summer and all the records we broke.”
In 2020, Phoenix broke many heat records
Phoenix in particular experienced some of its hottest and driest conditions last year, according to a report from the Weather Service.
The year also marked the city’s second hottest on record with an average temperature of 77.2 degrees, the report said.
The city set a new record for the most days in a year with high temperatures at or above 100 degrees, totaling 145 days, the report said. The previous record was 143 days in 1989.
It also saw 53 days last year at or above 110 degrees, according to the report.
In July, Phoenix set a new record for the hottest month ever with an average temperature of 98.9 degrees; however,
the record was toppled by August which saw an average temperature of 99.1 degrees, the report said.
The unusually hot August pushed 2020 to the unfortunate title of being the hottest summer ever recorded in Phoenix.
Summers in the future will be more like 2020’s
The bad news: The heat is likely here to stay.
Experts say it’s possible last summer was an anomaly, but hasten to add that a combination of the urban heat island effect and human-driven climate change will continue to worsen extreme, and sometimes deadly, heat.
Climate change sped up by humanmade emissions has led to a trend of increasing temperatures and contributed to extended drought throughout the Southwest. Phoenix’s concrete, asphalt and buildings retain heat, keeping the city hotter through the night.
A study last year predicted that by 2100, Phoenix and Tucson will see an increase from five days of extreme heat per year to as many as 45 and 60, respectively.
According to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, July tied for the secondhottest month ever recorded on Earth.
Record temperatures have public health consequences. Heat-related illnesses are common during the summer, and since 2009, more than 2,000 people have died from exposure to excessive natural heat in Arizona.