An Arizona community just broke the March national temperature record
It reached an astonishing 110 degrees on Thursday near the desert community of Martinez Lake, Arizona, about 150 miles west of Phoenix, on the last full day of winter.
A new U.S. national high temperature record for the month of March was just set.
It reached an astonishing 110 degrees on Thursday near the desert community of Martinez Lake, Arizona, about 150 miles west of Phoenix — on the last full day of winter.
That broke the previous March record of 108 degrees, set in South Texas in 1954 and matched in 2020.
The high mark came as a record-breaking March heat dome sizzles in the West through the weekend, and it’s possible the new record will be equaled or topped on Friday and/or Saturday.
On Friday, temperatures are forecast to reach 107 degrees in Palm Springs, California; 105 degrees in Phoenix; and 101 degrees in Las Vegas. Since records began in 1937, it hasn’t reached 100 in Vegas in March or April.
These types of heat extremes are becoming more likely, frequent and intense amid a warming climate. A developing El Niño, which could reach very strong levels later this year, is set to release even more heat across the planet into 2027.
More heat to come
Over the next week, more than 800 high temperature records could be neared, tied or broken at around 200 locations.
The heat dome’s intensity will peak across the Southwest on Friday, with its record warmth spilling into the Plains and parts of the South over the weekend.
Through next Wednesday, around 50 million people across the country are forecast to experience 90-degree heat, including places as far north as Nebraska, where unprecedented and deadly wildfire activity has recently occurred.
The calendar may say March, but the atmosphere is behaving more like June or July in the West, as snow melts and drought deepens in many states.
Although it probably won’t be record-breaking, some of this toasty air will reach the East on Sunday, when temperatures across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast approach or rise into the 80s.
A second, albeit slightly less intense heat dome is forecast to form over the Southwest early next week, bringing another round of record-breaking temperatures to the region. Temperatures are also being boosted by a marine heat wave strengthening near the California coast.
The pattern of western warmth could relax a bit toward the end of the month with heat predicted to surge eastward.