Why is Phoenix Arizona so hot?

Answer 1

The three main things that determine the average temperatures of any location are altitude (height above sea level), latitude (distance from equator of the earth) and any mitigating factors (like being near a big body of water).

The lower the altitude, the higher the temperature because there is more air directly above you and thus higher air pressure, which in turn leads to higher temperatures.

Being closer to the equator of the earth (latitude) means you are somewhat closer to the sun and because of the angle that sunlight hits the earth, sunlight has to go through less atmosphere at the equator.

Being near a large body of water (ocean or sea) tends to reduce extreme temperatures because the water temperature does not change as quickly as air temperature and thus acts a moderating force (that is why San Diego has fairly moderate temperatures, but if you go a 100 miles inland, it gets hot). Being right at the base of a large mountain range can help as cool air flows down the slopes. Location related to global and local air streams also makes a difference.

Thus... Phoenix is hot because it is at a low elevation (1200ft), a relatively low latitude for the US and has no large geographical features nearby that can help reduce the temperature. The large amounts of pavement and concrete also create a small rise in temps near the surface (the urban heat bubble), but this place was already hot long before that.

Note however, that Phoenix is NOT hot because it is a desert. That is getting the cause-and-effect backwards. The area around Phoenix is a desert partly because it is hot and partly because the air coming from the west looses most of its ocean moisture crossing over the cool tops of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. That is why Phoenix is so DRY (and thus a desert), but lack of rainfall by itself does not necessarily make a place hot. Saying Phoenix is hot because it is a desert, is like saying mountain tops are cold because of all the snow on them. The snow is there because those areas are colder to begin with and not the other way around.

Answer 2

Phoenix Elevation Above Sea Level

Answer 3

Two reasons- desert (true) and elevation.

Phoenix is in a desert valley between two mountain belts. This accounts for the low rainfall. Fewer clouds, more solar radiation gets through. Less water in the ground, fewer plants to absorb same. It's a city, too, which ususally adds 5-10 degrees to the microclimate.

The elevation part comes in when you consider atmosphere pressure. Tombstone, further south, is usually 10-15 degrees cooler, and Flagstaff, further north, is so much cooler that you can be snowed in while Phoenix is 75 degrees. Both of these cities are higher in elevation.

Answer 4

Not so fast. right now, July 7, 2014 in Gold Canyon, AZ the humidity is 35%. Couple that with 105 degrees it is both muggy and hot. The weather channels often under-report the humidity during the monsoon season. It is almost like a collusion to give people outside of Arizona the impression that all our heat is a "dry heat."

Answer 5

Even though temparatures get very hign in Phoenix, you don't get as much uncomfortable as you would feel in other parts of the country where humidity is high during summers. 85 degrees in the northeast feels much much more uncomfortable than 105 degrees in Phoenix. This is because there is no humidity...it's all just plain dry heat. 80s and 90s are really good here. It only starts to get a little bit uncomfortable when it reaches 110 degrees and above...but those days are very very few...may be 30 days in the entire summer, if not less than that.

Answer 6

Phoenix's arid climate is characterized by some of the hottest seasonal temperatures anywhere. In fact, out of the world's large cities, only Riyadh and Baghdad have higher average summer temperatures. The temperature reaches or exceeds 100 °F (38 °C) on an average of 89 days during the year, including most days from early June through early September. On June 26, 1990, the temperature reached an all-time high of 122 °F (50 °C). The dry Arizona air makes the hot temperatures more tolerable early in the season; however, the influx of monsoonal moisture has been known to make August in Phoenix almost as humid as summers in the Southeastern United States. On the other hand, mild, sunny weather in the winter months makes the area a mecca for golfers and others seeking to escape the cold typical of the northern U.S.

Phoenix sees some 300 sunny days per year and scant rainfall, the average annual total at Sky Harbor International Airport being 8.4 inches (210 mm). March is the wettest month of the year (1.07 inches or 27 mm). Rain is particularly scarce from April through June. Although thunderstorms occur on occasion during every month of the year, they are most common during the monsoon season from July to mid-September as humid air surges in from the Gulf of California. These can bring strong winds, large hail, or tornadoes. Winter storms moving inland from the Pacific Ocean occasionally produce significant rains but occur infrequently. Fog is observed from time to time during the winter months.

At the airport, the mean date of first frost is December 12 and the last is February 7; however, these dates do not represent the city as a whole because the frequency of freezes varies considerably among terrain types and elevations. Some areas of Phoenix may see frost for a month or more before and after the airport readings. The earliest frost on record occurred on November 3, 1946, and the latest occurred on April 4, 1945. Successive winters without any frosts at the airport have been recorded, and the longest period without a freeze stretched from November 23, 1979 to January 31, 1985. The all-time lowest temperature in Phoenix was recorded at 16 °F (-8.8 °C) on January 7, 1913.

Snow is extremely rare in the area, though still can occur from time to time. Snowfall was first officially recorded in 1896, and since then accumulations of 0.1 inches (0.25 cm) or greater have occurred only seven times. The heaviest snowstorm on record dates to January 20-21, 1937, when 1 to 4 inches fell (2 to 10 cm) in parts of the city and did not melt entirely for four days. Prior to that, 1 inch (2.5 cm) had fallen on January 20, 1933. On February 2, 1935, 0.5 inches (1 cm) fell. Most recently, 0.4 inches (1 cm) fell on December 21-22, 1990. Snow also fell on March 12, 1917 November 28, 1919, and December 11, 1985.

Phoenix was ranked as the #1 hottest city in the U.S., and #2 as the driest city in the U.S. on The Weather Channel's "Top 10", a program involving with ranking cities on criteria such as hottest, driest, coldest, wettest, windiest, sunniest, snowiest, and most humid.

The city's automobile-dependent nature holds implications for greenhouse gas emissions. Although Phoenix is the sixth-largest city in the United States, its public transit system accounts for just one per cent of the passenger miles that New York City's does. The reason is that Phoenix’s booming population has spread so far across the desert; greater Phoenix, whose population is a little more than twice that of Manhattan, covers more than two hundred times as much land

Answer 7

Phoenix is no where near the equator. Phoenix just happens to be in a desert region where not much rain is received and there are alot of sunny days.

Answer 8

Its in a desert, its relatively far South and its far away from the moderating effect of the ocean since it's near the equater it's very hot

Answer 9

A dessert+ One of the closest places to the equator in the United States. Ive been there lots of time and its very very hot. But one time i got lucky and it was only 80 to 85 degrees.

Answer 10

It is the closest place in the US to hell. You can actually go to Phoenix with a spoon, dig down seven or eight feet and see the gates of hell. Makes for great vacation photos.