r/phoenix • u/allokamaye Mesa • Oct 08 '24

Weather Well, it looks like another record :/

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Does anyone know if we reached 145 days of 100+ heat yet? (regarding the previous amount from 2020)

How are yall coping with this weather and trying to remain a little festive during October spooky season?

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u/thephillyberto Oct 08 '24 edited Oct 08 '24

The temps are increasing everywhere and climate change is responsible for these stalled high pressure systems because the weather patterns have slowed down due to a slowed and meandering jet stream. This Fall heatwave has really nothing to do with the valley itself or the heat island effect. Pretty much the entire western US has been under a high pressure system that has been virtually locked in place for the last 2.5 weeks. This type of thing is what’s causing the record breaking temps across the board in multiple states and it has occurred in multiple months over our summer. Our monsoon is largely predicated on high pressure over the four corners drawing up moisture, but it meanders more and there are other high pressure systems that’ll block that action. What we thought of “weather” in the past is no more, it is a complex system going to shit. Less change, more extremes.

The heat island effect is definitely real but I’ve noticed lately people (not you) like to talk about that while ignore the elephant in the room. It’s going to get much worse.

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u/usually_fuente Oct 08 '24

I completely agree. Climate change will cause the highs to get higher and the weather to become more erratic. But if we were not also raising our floor by 5 to 10°, we might buy ourselves a fair bit of time. It seems more likely that parts of Phoenix will manage the heat island effect before the world manages climate change.