2024 was a record-breaking year of heat and drought in Arizona

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — As far as the weather is concerned, 2024 will be a year we can’t say goodbye to fast enough!

For the most part, it was hotter than it should have been in most areas of the state, and it was much drier than expected.

We started the year with decent rain and snow across the state and fairly seasonal temperatures. By the end of March, most of our reservoirs were in good shape, and the snowpack was good. We were even seeing a little extra runoff in the Colorado River complex.

But then the tap seemingly shut off. Hit-and-miss showers dotted the springtime, but by summer, the atmosphere had turned even drier. There were hints of an early start to the monsoon, but as in so many cases, an early start doesn’t guarantee rain. We struggled out of the monsoon with most locations around the Valley well below on rain and way above on heat.

State Climatologist Erinanne Saffell reported that 2024 was the driest on record for the entire state, with only a few locations near Flagstaff and in northeast AZ receiving above-average rain. The rest of the state was very dry.

For the Phoenix metro, it was tied for the 7th driest monsoon. Remember just last year, we had the all-time driest monsoon?

It was the hottest July and August on record, making 2024 the hottest summer in recorded history in Phoenix. Once again, it seemed like we were setting records every day. Here’s a final tally of the number of hot days we had this past year.

Our huge problem of people dying due to the extreme heat continued. Last year, 645 deaths in Maricopa County were attributed to heat. So far this year, the number is 466, but with 191 deaths under investigation, it is quite likely that 2024 will have similar numbers of heat deaths compared to 2023, which saw the highest heat death toll ever in Arizona.

Starting August 22nd, the last measurable rain at Sky Harbor Airport in 2024, we saw a dry streak extend to 131 days by the end of the year.

The record, by the way, is 160 days in a row without rain. We did that in 1971.

So, depending on when you see this article, we could either be closing in on the dry streak record or may have broken it. Interestingly, at 130 days of dryness, we’re still not cracking the Top 5 dry streaks.

Phoenix and surrounding areas didn’t see much of a typical fall season either, with temperatures staying well above average. That resulted in the warmest December on record for Phoenix. Those records started in 1895.

2024 will go into the books as the hottest on record for Phoenix, Arizona

Scientists are also firming up what we also felt was going to happen: 2024 will go down as the hottest year on the planet since global records were started in 1850. For Phoenix, it’s interesting that our top five “hottest” years have occurred since 2014.

And finally, a rainfall chart for the Valley, with data provided by the Maricopa County Flood Control District. It shows “random” rain totals around the Valley in gauges operated by Flood Control. Just about everyone had less than-average rain in 2024.

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