Happy Saturday — and it’s amazing to think we have already reached August. July ended on a hot note for much of the southern and western part of the country, with several locations in the Southwest seeing record high temperatures. Oklahoma City hit 107F, a degree short of its daily record but equaling August 19, 2023 as the hottest day since a 108F reading back in 2012.
July 2026 continued a disturbing trend of increasing summer heat in the western United States. Denver saw its second hottest July on record, finishing just a couple of tenths of a degree short of the record set in July 2012. Of the top 20 warmest months of July on record in Denver, only 6 of those occurred prior to the turn of the century with 3 during the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s. The other 14 warmest years have been since 2000.
The trend toward hotter summer months is even more pronounced at other desert and mountain West cities. July 2026 was the third warmest July on record in Salt Lake City, finishing just behind 2021 and a couple of degrees short of the incredible record July of 2022. All of the top 20 warmest months of July on record in Salt Lake City have occurred since 2000 with the exception of July 1960. Prior to 2000, July 1960 was the warmest July on record for the city, and now it is the 19th warmest. Records go back to 1874 at Salt Lake City.
While a location like Salt Lake City is seeing an acceleration of this summer warming trend due in part to urbanization, the signal is also apparent at less urbanized areas showing that global warming is playing a pivotal role. 2026 was the fifth warmest July at Yuma, and 10 of the 15 warmest months of July on record have occurred since 2000.
Prior to 1996, the hottest July on record in Needles, CA was 1931 — now it is the 16th warmest.
Needles will be getting August off to a hot start with max temperatures approaching or reaching 120F.
They will not be alone, as record high temperatures will be numerous across the western United States today (shown above) and again on Sunday.
Major to extreme heat risk will be widespread across the West this weekend — as well as along the Gulf Coast to the south of a cold front that brought some relief to the central and eastern United States.
This weekend will also see the potential for deterioration of an already serious wildfire situation across the Northwest, with widespread critical fire weather conditions expected as a weather system brings strong southwest winds and dry air to the region.
Conditions will be particularly dangerous this afternoon and evening across eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon where the Storm Prediction Center has placed an extremely critical (level 3 of 3) area.
To be clear, the extreme heat is not a uniquely North American issue, as large parts of the globe are experiencing record heat. Europe continues to see record warmth, with Austria setting its all-time July record high temperature on Friday with 40.3C (105F). Eastern Asia, southern Africa, and parts of South America and the Caribbean are also seeing all-time record warmth — follow climatologist M. Herrera at Extreme Temperatures Around the World for details.
Programming note: I am posting semi-regularly again — but family commitments and travel after the passing of my mom will mean those posts will not be as frequent or consistently timed as they typically have been.
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