Climate News

The West's March heatwave: Phoenix hits 105F and Yuma sets a US record for the month

An early and long-lasting heatwave has gripped the western and south-western United States since mid-March. AP, in a report carried by News4JAX on 17 March, said San Francisco was nearing 90°F (32.2°C), its hottest March weather in at least two decades, and that Phoenix was expected to pass 100°F, which it had never done before 26 March. Grand Canyon National Park was under an extreme heat warning.

By the weekend, Fox Weather reported that more than 1,500 daily records had fallen across 13 states in a week. Yuma, Arizona, hit 109°F on Friday, a US record for March, while Thermal and Indio in California reached 108°F, a new state March record. Bloomberg reported that Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport hit 105°F for a third day running, its highest March temperature on record.

"This is going to be unusual for this time of year." — Brian Planz, National Weather Service meteorologist in Las Vegas, via AP

How each outlet framed it

• AP — everyday life: most San Francisco residents lack air conditioning, and Colorado's thin mountain snow has led water providers to limit lawn watering.
• Fox Weather — the record count, with temperatures up to 35 degrees above average from California to the Great Plains.
• Bloomberg — the knock-on risk of wildfires as far away as the Great Plains.

Where the numbers differ: the number of people at risk depends on the measure. Bloomberg cited nearly 9.5 million people in the Southwest facing extreme heat, while Fox Weather said extreme heat warnings and heat advisories covered nearly 40 million people.