THERMAL, Calif. — A desert community in southwestern Arizona reached 110 degrees on Thursday, breaking a record for the highest March temperature ever recorded in the United States.
The record-setting temperature was recorded just outside Martinez Lake, Arizona, in the Yuma Desert, as a winter heat wave scorched the Southwest, according to the National Weather Service. The community is about 145 miles west of Phoenix.
The blistering wave of heat this week has established record highs in dozens of locations, including Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
The previous record of 108 degrees had been set in Rio Grande City, Texas, in 1954 and was tied Wednesday by North Shore, California.
By Thursday, several more California locations had hit 108 degrees. Among them were Cathedral City, near the desert destination of Palm Springs, and the aptly named town of Thermal, northeast of San Diego.
Thermal was forecast to hit 110 on Friday.
Ruben Pantaleon said the heat didn’t bother him as he used a squeegee to clean car windshields at an intersection in Thermal on Thursday afternoon. He wore shorts and had a supply of electrolyte drinks on hand.
“I drank three of those so far,” he said under the blaring sun. “It’s the desert. It gets real hot. I’m not worried about it.”
Several cities on Wednesday experienced their hottest March day in four decades, according to the National Weather Service. Downtown Los Angeles reached 94 degrees, beating its previous daily high for March 18 of 87 in 1997.
Triple-digit temperatures also came earlier than ever before in Phoenix when the Arizona capital hit 102 degrees Wednesday. The previous record was set almost 40 years ago, on March 26, 1988, according to the NWS.
It will continue to be 20 to 30 degrees above normal temperatures for March for the rest of the week in the Southwest before the mercury drops slightly starting Sunday. Many other cities in the region are expected to see their earliest 100-plus degree day on record, according to the weather service.
“For some perspective, the average first 105-degree day of the year normally occurs on May 22nd,” the weather service said in a statement. The last time Phoenix temperatures climbed into the hundreds during March was almost 40 years ago. Hiking trails around the city were closed because of the risk of heat illness.
— Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum contributed from Salt Lake City.
