Snow and record heat are making headlines across the western U.S. today as both impact the region.
“Its snowing on top of America’s Mountain this morning,” the National Weather Service’s Pueblo office exclaimed on X, adding, “Tis the season with fall like temperatures in store across south central and southeast Colorado today!” They shared an image from the Pikes Peak webcams created by the city of Colorado Springs which showed a fresh coat of snow accumulating on the Upper Platform of the Cog Railway.
While snow and colder temperatures were being experienced in Colorado, the opposite was happening to the south in Arizona. According to the Phoenix office of the National Weather Service, Sky Harbor Airport had a high temperature today of 116 degrees, which breaks the previous record for the date of 115 set in 2020.
Beyond breaking today’s record, the extreme heat in Phoenix today ties it for the hottest day ever in September with September 1, 1950. This is the latest occurrence of 116 degrees at the climate reporting site, according to the National Weather Service. Today was also the 56th day of 2024 where Phoenix sat at or above 110 degrees, which sets the record of 55 days made in 2023. Records for Phoenix date back to 1895.
No snow is expected in Phoenix anytime soon, but a brief cool-down is. Afternoon highs over the next several days won’t be as hot as today, but they will still be about 10 degrees above normal. A slight “cool-down” is expected over the weekend, but unseasonably hot conditions are expected to return next week with afternoon highs of 108 or warmer expected.
Phoenix isn’t alone with the extreme heat in Arizona; Yuma, El Centro, and Blythe are all at or above 116 today and high temperatures aren’t expected to dip below 110 in any of those cities through at least next Monday.
