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Capital Weather Gang

It’s so hot in Phoenix that airplanes can’t fly

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June 21, 2017 at 6:29 a.m. EDT
With temperatures likely to reach triple digits in Phoenix, American Airlines on June 20 cancelled dozens of inbound and outbound flights. (Video: Reuters)

There are certain truths that accompany summer in Phoenix: Triple-digit temperatures persist well past sundown. It’s not considered abnormal to drive with oven mitts or ice packs in the car. And after a certain threshold, even the “it’s a dry heat” jokes cease being funny.

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Usually, the hot season is met with a certain amount of pearl-clutching disbelief by people outside of Arizona. Meanwhile, locals shrug, knowing simply to stay indoors as much as possible or escape to the cooler climes of Northern Arizona.

But this week has felt different, even for seasoned desert-dwellers. As the Capital Weather Gang reported, the Southwest is experiencing its worst heat wave in decades. Excessive heat warnings have been in effect from Arizona to California and will be for the remainder of the week.

How hot has it been? On Monday, temperatures in Phoenix hit 118 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, which announced the record-tying heat against a stock image of a flaming ball of fire.

On Tuesday, Phoenix recorded its fourth-hottest day ever, reaching 119 degrees.

To mark the occasion, the National Weather Service in Phoenix helpfully offered the following advice:

“At least we weren’t in Death Valley today,” NWS Phoenix said on Twitter, noting that Tuesday’s national high, in the California desert, was 127. “Still, tomorrow will be hot again … ”

On Wednesday, officially the first day of summer, the forecast for Phoenix is “sunny and hot, with a high near 117,” according to the National Weather Service.

It’s been so hot that even veteran local meteorologists are appending their tweets with #makeitstop.

And it was so hot that dozens of flights have been canceled this week at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

American Airlines alerted its customers over the weekend, offering fee-free changes to upcoming flights that were departing or arriving at Phoenix between 3 and 6 p.m., when temperatures peak.

Monday and Tuesday, the Fort Worth-based airline canceled 50 flights in and out of Phoenix, according to American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein. Delays were expected for at least seven more flights to Sky Harbor on Tuesday, he said.

Regional flights on American Eagle were the most affected, because they use Bombardier CRJ planes that can only operate at temperatures of 118 degrees or below, Feinstein said. Flights on larger Airbus and Boeing planes were not canceled because they are able to operate at higher maximum temperatures: 127 degrees for Airbus and 126 degrees for Boeing.

Each aircraft manufacturer sets its own parameters for operating temperatures, Feinstein said.

Later Tuesday, Delta Air Lines confirmed it had canceled three regional flights that had been scheduled to depart Sky Harbor because of the excessive heat.

During a heat wave the body has to work harder to maintain a normal body temperature. Here are five facts to keep in mind when dealing with intense heat. (Video: Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

The heat shows no sign of relenting soon.

The National Weather Service broke out the magenta — a color category little known to the rest of the country — to illustrate parts of Arizona that would be under “rare, dangerous, and very possibly deadly” heat for the rest of the week.

The record for Phoenix was set June 26, 1990, when temperatures reached 122 degrees. Flights out of Sky Harbor that day were grounded, too.

Only three times in recorded history has the temperature hit 120 degrees or above: twice in 1990 and once in 1995, National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Kuhlman told The Washington Post.

Historically, average temperatures for Phoenix this time of year have remained between 105 and 110 degrees, he said.

Kuhlman, who is based in Phoenix, admitted that he woke up at 4 a.m. Tuesday to do yard work before the sun came up.

Even at that hour, it was 90 degrees outside.

“Normally, it’s hot but it’s not intolerable. You get acclimated to your surroundings. You kind of get used to the heat,” Kuhlman said. “But when it’s even this far above what the normal is, even for us that live here … it’s dangerous to be doing stuff outside. Anything, I suppose.”

This post, originally published on June 20, has been updated.

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