Category Archives: Arizona

Phoenix’s record streak of temperatures above 110F ends after 31 days

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Reprieve expected to be brief, with the forecast calling for highs again above 110F for several days later in the week

Phoenix’s record stretch of daily highs over 110F (43.3C) ended Monday as cooling monsoon rains slightly tempered the dangerous heatwave that suffocated the American south-west throughout July.

The region, from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert, has been grappling with historic heat since June. Phoenix and its suburbs sweltered more intensely than most, with several records including the 31 consecutive days of 110F days. The previous record was 18 straight days, set in 1974.

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Mystery surrounds case of US teen who re-emerged after going missing in 2019

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Alicia Navarro, who police said had not been harmed and does not face charges, disappeared days before her 15th birthday

When Alicia Navarro disappeared in 2019 from her home in a Phoenix suburb, days before her 15th birthday, she left a signed note promising she would return.

“I will be back, I swear,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”

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Mother hails ‘miracle’ return of Arizona teen who went missing in 2019

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Alicia Navarro, 18, showed up alone this week in a small town in Montana and identified herself

The mother of an Arizona teenager who has reappeared safe and well after going missing four years ago has hailed her return as a “miracle”.

Alicia Navarro, 18, vanished without a trace in 2019 but showed up alone this week in a small town in Montana about 40 miles from the Canadian border and identified herself, according to police in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb.

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More than 170m Americans under heat alerts as heatwave expands

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Between 250 and 275 million will face heat indexes of 90F as heatwave moves into parts of Great Plains, midwest and north-east

Over 170 million Americans are under heat alerts this week, according to the National Weather Service, as a heat wave that has affected the southern US for weeks has expanded into parts of the Great Plains, midwest and north-east US.

Between 250 and 275 million people in the US will face heat indexes of at least 90F (32C), as the US braces for the hottest weather of the summer averaged across the country.

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Hot streak: US heatwaves lasting longer as record temperatures bake south-west

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Phoenix and Californian town of Needles experiencing 70th day in which temperatures have reached 90F

A brutal heatwave is persisting throughout much of the US, with cities across the south-west reaching all-time records for hottest consecutive days. Intense heatwaves are becoming more frequent as a result of the climate crisis, but alarmingly, these streaks of hot days are also lasting longer.

People living in cities in Arizona, California and Texas are entering their second month of days in which the temperature reaches 90F (32.2C) and above. Cities such as Phoenix, and Needles in California, have had no relief from this extreme heat in the past 70 days, with Phoenix recently experiencing three consecutive weeks of temperatures reaching 110F (43.3C) and above.

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No let-up in Phoenix as extreme temperatures persist

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Emergency-room doctor treating heatstroke victims with large amounts of ice as Arizona city enters ninth day of lows above 90F

With no immediate let-up anticipated for the scorching heat over the American south-west – where temperatures have reached more than 110F (43.3C) in the day and not dropped below 90F (32.2C) at night – a Phoenix emergency room doctor has resorted to using children’s pools and large zip-bags filled with ice to cool heatstroke victims.

Frank LoVecchio, a Phoenix-area emergency room medical toxicologist, told CBS News that he had treated three or four cases of heatstroke over the past three days using the technique, which involves covering the patient with ice until only their eyes and mouth are showing.

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Phoenix’s unhoused residents suffer through record heat even at night

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Only one cooling center remains open all night, when the concrete radiates heat stored during hellish daytime hours

Even after the sun sinks below the horizon in Phoenix, Arizona, the concrete cityscape continues to cook. In the midst of a record-breaking heatwave that’s kept daily highs above 110F (43.3C) for more than 18 consecutive days, the evening hours have offered little reprieve. For more than a week low temperatures breached 90F (32.2C), breaking a grim record recently set in 2020.

While the city is considered a leader in mitigating the dangers of extreme heat and has worked to secure widespread access to cooling centers and hydration stations during the scorching summer days, most facilities here close before nightfall. There’s only a single center that operates around the clock in a city of more than 1.6 million people, even as dangerous conditions grow more deadly – especially for those who can’t access overnight relief.

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US south-west bakes under potentially deadly record high temperatures

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Phoenix, Arizona, logged its 16th day above 110F, and California’s Death Valley reached 122F as cities offered cooling centers

A dangerous heatwave threatened a wide swath of the south-west with potentially deadly temperatures in the triple digits on Saturday as some cooling centers extended their hours and emergency rooms prepared to treat more people with heat-related illnesses.

“Near record temperatures are expected this weekend!” the National Weather Service in Phoenix warned in a tweet, advising people to follow its safety tips such as drinking plenty of water and checking on relatives and neighbors.

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Severe US weather: California heat puts firefighters on high alert for wildfires; Canada wildfires cause air quality alerts in US midwest – as it happened

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Extreme dry conditions raising fire risk; air quality alert for Minnesota took effect at 8am on Friday

Vermont governor Phil Scott said his formal request to President Joe Biden for a major disaster declaration has been approved.

The major disaster declaration unlocks federal disaster funds to assist individuals and communities recover from the devastating floods earlier this week.

The disaster declaration provides federal support for recovery. It’s separate from, and in addition to, the federal emergency declaration the president already signed when he was overseas to help with the initial emergency phase.

It’s incredibly important to get flooded homes, businesses and public buildings as dry as possible to prevent other outcomes like mould. We’re working on resources to help with that.

I’m very grateful for the speed of Fema in the White House. It will open up significant federal resources for communities, individuals, businesses [...] In anticipation of these funds, we are working to develop a concrete list of resources to help impacted Vermonters and making sure it’s as easy as possible for Vermonters to access those.

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Severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Vermont, New York, Vermont and Ohio Valley – live

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Latest storm warning comes just days after areas of Vermont and New York were hit with flash flooding, raising concerns over more damage

Meterologist Ben Frechette from NBC5 reported that a tornado risk is going up slightly in north-eastern NewYork state:

As some parts of the US are sweltering, Vermont was bracing for more rain on Thursday.

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Residents of US south-west swelter under record-breaking heatwave

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Relentless temperatures upwards of 100F leave millions under extreme heat warnings and outdoor events cancelled

Record-breaking heat is baking the US south-west this week, putting millions under extreme heat warnings as temperatures upwards of 100F (38C) hit Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and southern California for days on end.

Even desert residents accustomed to scorching summers are feeling the relentless grip of the heat. Phoenix, which hit a 12th consecutive day of 110F on Tuesday, could see its longest ever heatwave.

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Millions swelter under extreme heat as climate crisis tightens grip on US – live

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Heat dome of high pressure hovers over Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma as thousands remain without power in Chicago with heavy rains knocking down trees and power lines

The heating of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans by the burning of fossil fuels made the current extreme heatwave across the us at least five times more likely, according to a recent analysis by Climate Central, a climate science non-profit.

The rolling heatwave marks the latest in a series of recent extreme “heat dome” events that have scorched various parts of the world.

If you have this sort of high-pressure system sitting stationary over a region, you can have these really impressive heatwaves.

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US officials release bodycam video of man’s fatal shooting by border agents

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Raymond Mattia, 58, shot dead in remote corner of Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona last month

Federal US officials have released body camera footage that shows border patrol agents were concerned that a tribal member they fatally shot last month may have been carrying a handgun during an encounter in a remote corner of the Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona.

The man, Raymond Mattia, 58, died shortly after the shooting the night of 18 May outside a home in the reservation’s Menagers Dam community near the US-Mexico border.

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Arizona man freed after nearly three decades on death row

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Barry Jones pleads guilty to lesser charge in deal to overturn his conviction for murder of four-year-old girl in 1994

An Arizona man who spent nearly three decades on death row before the reversal of his conviction over the death of a four-year-old girl has been freed from prison.

Barry Jones’s release, ordered on Thursday, came after a Tuscon-area state court judge approved a deal between prosecutors and him which involved his pleading guilty to a lesser murder charge. According to prosecutors, a medical review of the case failed to conclude that Jones caused the girl’s fatal injury, and his pleading guilty to second-degree murder involves his failure to adequately seek emergency care for the victim.

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Arizona limits future home-building in Phoenix area due to lack of groundwater

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Action set to slow population growth for one of the most rapidly expanding areas of the US amid ‘megadrought’

The state of Arizona has restricted future home-building in the Phoenix area due to a lack of groundwater, based on projections showing that wells will run dry under existing conditions.

The action by the Arizona department of water resources on Thursday is set to slow population growth for the Phoenix region, the state capital, home to 4.6 million people and one of the most rapidly expanding areas of the United States.

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US border agents kill man on tribal reservation in Arizona

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FBI and Tohono O’odham Nation investigating after Raymond Mattia shot dead on Thursday night near US-Mexico border

US border patrol agents investigating a report of gunfire shot and killed a man on a tribal reservation in southern Arizona after he abruptly threw something and raised his arm, the agency said on Monday.

The FBI and Tohono O’odham Nation are investigating Thursday night’s fatal shooting of Raymond Mattia.

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Historic Colorado River deal not enough to stave off long-term crisis, experts say

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Agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada will cut water consumption by 13% but experts warn river is still in serious peril

A hard-fought agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada to slash the states’ use of the shrinking Colorado River is only a temporary salve to a long-term water crisis that continues to threaten the foundations of life in the American west, experts have warned.

The deal, announced on Monday, between the three states that make up the lower portion of the sprawling Colorado basin will pare back 13% of water consumption from the beleaguered river over the next three years if adopted, averting the prospect of more stringent cuts imposed by the federal government. Backed by $1.2bn in federal funds, the bulk of the reductions are structured to encourage voluntary cuts taken by rights holders, in exchange for grant money.

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Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema vows to never join Republican party

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The former Democrat says she speaks frequently with White House but ‘rejects party politics’ and stays mum on re-election

US senator Kyrsten Sinema has vowed to never join the Republican party after she changed her party affiliation from Democrat to independent late last year.

In an interview aired on Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation, the Arizona senator said that she is “absolutely” done with the country’s two-party political system.

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Kari Lake’s lawyers fined over ‘false factual statements’ on election fraud

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Arizona high court found no evidence of the failed gubernatorial candidate’s claim of 35,000 fraudulent votes in election

Lawyers for Kari Lake, the failed Republican gubernatorial candidate, were sanctioned $2,000 on Thursday by the Arizona supreme court in their unsuccessful challenge of her defeat in the governor’s race last year to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

In an order, the state’s highest court said Lake’s attorney made “false factual statements” that more than 35,000 ballots had been improperly added to the total ballot count, imposing 10 days to submit payment.

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Colorado River snaking through Grand Canyon most endangered US waterway – report

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Unique ecosystem on the brink of collapse due to climate crisis and mismanagement, says conservation group American Rivers

A 277-mile stretch of the Colorado River that snakes through the iconic Grand Canyon is America’s most endangered waterway, a new report has found.

The unique ecosystem and cultural heritage of the Grand Canyon is on the brink of collapse due to prolonged drought, rising temperatures and outdated river management, according to American Rivers, the conservation group which compiles the annual endangered list.

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