The city of Phoenix reached its 31st consecutive day with at least 110-degree heat Sunday, rounding out what many scientists believe will be the Earth’s hottest month on record.
Forecasters predict the arrival of thunderstorms late Monday likely will break the record heat on the last day of July; the expected high temperature in the Arizona capital July 31 is 106 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
The previous record for longest 110-degree streak in Phoenix was set in 1974, when it had 18 straight days of heat at or above 110 degrees.
The reprieve from the 110-degree heat might be short-lived. On Tuesday, showers are expected to keep temperatures relatively low, with a forecasted 105 degrees. But Wednesday is expected to climb back up to 108, Thursday is expected to reach 110 and Friday is forecasted at 112, according to the National Weather Service.
Cities and towns across America are experiencing record-breaking heat. The sweltering temperatures began in the lower Southwest region late last month, stretching from Texas to New Mexico, Arizona and California, The Associated Press reported.
Scientists calculated Thursday that July would wind up being the hottest month on record. The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said the month’s heat is record-smashing, according to the AP.
“Unless an ice age were to appear all of sudden out of nothing, it is basically virtually certain we will break the record for the warmest July on record and the warmest month on record,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said to the AP on Thursday.
On Monday, more than 20 million people in the U.S. were under “excessive heat warnings,” about 36 million were under “heat advisories” and an additional 3 million were under “excessive heat watch.”
Many scientists, including Buontempo, point to climate change as a contributing factor to record-breaking heat this summer, as well as a natural El Niño warming parts of the central Pacific, the AP reported.