Phoenix Hits Record For 110 Degree Days

Arizonans Seek Relief As State Experiences 29 Days This Year Hitting 110 Degrees Or More

(CBS/AP)  People here expect it to be hot, but they sure wouldn't mind a cool spell. You know, maybe 107 or so.

Phoenix reached a shoe-melting, spirit-crushing milestone Wednesday: 29 days of temperatures 110° or higher in a single year. The previous record of 28 days was set in 1970 and matched in 2002, according to the National Weather Service.

The streak is enough to vaporize any humor left in the phrase "It's a dry heat." The average number of days 110 or higher in a given year is 10.

"It's a dry heat because we're in a desert!" Ollie Lewis said as she walked to a bus stop in downtown Phoenix.

Austin Jamison, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Phoenix, said an oven produces dry heat, too. "You can put your head in the oven, but that's not comfortable."

The temperature hit 113° Wednesday afternoon, matching the record high for Aug. 29 set in 1948 and 1981, Jamison said.

A heat advisory has been posted, with the weather service forecasting a high of 110° for Thursday, but cooler temperatures (a chilly 105°!) expected later this week.

The weather service says urbanization and global climate change could be contributing factors to the heat.

CBS Affiliate KPHO Meteorologist Steve Garry said it could be worse: "What's interesting about this is we set the 110° milestone without breaking any of the four hottest days on record in Phoenix," ranging from 118° on July 22, 1995, to 122° set on June 26, 1990.

The hottest day of 2007 was July 4, when the mercury hit 116°.

Still, the string of broiling days was tough to deal with, even for lifelong Phoenix residents like Martin Milner, a construction worker who took a break under a rare shade tree.

"People say you'll get used to it, but you never get used to it," said Milner, who wore a bandanna under his black hard hat to stop the sweat from running down his face. "Every year it gets harder and harder and harder. This year it's just skyrocketed."

Marcia Reid, who moved to Phoenix from New York City five months ago, said the heat doesn't bother her.

"I lived in New York for so long, I got tired of the cold," she said. "I like it here.

"It's a dry heat."

[mycatsnores]

Wow, still no posts blaming Bush for this. Amazing.

[hawksprings]

ALGORE, SAVE US!!!!

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