PHOENIX — Cam Ferguson arrived at his designated spot on the road adjacent to Chase Field, home of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks, and laid out his usual pile of cold water, sports drinks, peanuts and candy about four hours before the first pitch.
By game time, it's a Labor Day afternoon and the temperature in downtown Phoenix is about 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Business is brisk.
“It's $2 for five, but it's $8 inside!” yells another vendor as he sells a bottle of water. “Plus, the air conditioning in the store is a bit off.”
It's always hot this time of year in Central Arizona, but 2024 is looking like a never-ending summer, especially in Phoenix. On Tuesday, Phoenix recorded its 100th consecutive day with temperatures at or above 100 degrees.
That far surpasses the previous record of 76 consecutive days set in 1993, according to data from the National Weather Service.
“This is definitely a notable number,” NWS meteorologist Shawn Benedict said.
In Phoenix, temperatures reached 102 degrees on May 27 and have exceeded triple digits every day since.
Benedict said long spells of desert heat are usually punctuated by rain, but there hasn't been much monsoon rain.
The heat started early, with temperatures already reaching triple digits in May.
It doesn't look like a break is coming anytime soon.
Unseasonably high temperatures are expected across the Western U.S. this week, with extreme heat warnings expected to be in effect Wednesday through Friday for Arizona cities such as Phoenix and Lake Havasu City, and other parts of Nevada, including Las Vegas, Laughlin and Pahrump.
The California desert cities of Palm Springs, Twentynine Palms, Needles and Barstow are also heating up, with a high of 118 degrees Fahrenheit expected in Furnace Creek in Death Valley over the weekend.
Public health officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, home to Phoenix, the hottest metropolitan area in the United States, said as of August 24 that 150 heatstroke deaths had been confirmed so far this year, with another 443 under investigation.
Last year, 645 people died from heatstroke in the county, which has a population of about 4.5 million.
No matter how you analyze the data, 2024 is set to be a record-breaking hot summer for Phoenix.
This summer, including June, July and August, was the hottest on meteorological record, with similar conditions across the western United States, with several locations in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico breaking or nearing records.
Red flag warnings were issued across California due to the heightened risk of wildfires. Fires that broke out on Monday were fueled by strong and slowing winds, causing power outages and prompting evacuation orders for more than 500 residents in remote wooded areas near Lake Tahoe.
The Bear Fire, which started about 20 miles north of Truckee, had grown to more than two square miles by Tuesday morning and remains uncontained.
Cooling centers were set up across Los Angeles County, and officials urged residents to check on elderly, sick or otherwise at-risk neighbors as temperatures soar. “Hot weather is not only uncomfortable, it can also be dangerous,” said Los Angeles County Health Commissioner Muntu Davis.
Those who operate outdoor businesses have nowhere to escape the heat, a situation that's the same for many in the Phoenix area, especially construction workers and landscapers.
Ferguson's outdoor job in downtown Phoenix is hot, and the concrete and asphalt throughout the downtown area makes it feel even hotter as the heat radiates out onto the streets when more than 40,000 fans gather to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers and Diamondbacks play.
“Wear lots of sunscreen shirts and drink ice cold water – that's the only way you're going to survive this heat,” Ferguson said of how he deals with the heat.
Chase Field is air-conditioned and has a retractable roof, which is closed for most games in midsummer, so it's obviously a better environment for fans and players.
But keeping the massive stadium cool in summer can be a challenge, with players at times commenting that it can get incredibly hot and muggy inside.
Ramiro Lopez has run a landscaping business outside Phoenix for five years and said each summer feels hotter than the last.
Between jobs, he takes breaks in the air-conditioned comfort of his truck to beat the heat, but the past three months have been a struggle.
“I drink a lot of sports drinks and try to finish by 1 p.m.,” Lopez says, “otherwise I'll end up overdoing it.”
In Phoenix, there have been 37 nights this summer when temperatures didn't drop below 90 degrees Fahrenheit, also a record.
There have also been 54 days with temperatures above 110 degrees, just one day away from breaking last year's record of 55. That mark could be broken later this week.
The heat is hard on everyone, but especially on low-income communities.
“If you can't cool down at night, heat builds up in your body, which can have health effects,” Ellinan Saffell, a climatologist at Arizona State University, wrote in an email. “Stay cool and stay hydrated.”
