High Heat to Hold on in Southwest for Few More Days

Posted: April 9, 2021 1:00 pm

While the South and the East Coast will be dealing with a typical soggy spring weekend, the Southwest will be blazing hot and dry.

Ongoing Heat to Scorch Southwest: It will feel more like May than early April in the Southwest this weekend. The unseasonably warm temperatures are predicted to hold through the weekend and into early next week for portions of Arizona, Nevada, and California. This jump in the mercury is simply a continuation of the warm weather that has set in over the month of April.

For example, the average temperature in April in the Phoenix area has been over 10 degrees above normal for the month. Easter weekend provided record high temperatures to the Southwest, catching some people off guard with the intensity of the heat so early in the year. Phoenix tied its record high for April 3 and April 4 with readings of 97 and 98 degrees.

Farther to the north in Las Vegas, the city matched its daily high-temperature record on Saturday when the temperature soared to 91 degrees. This marked the first time that Sin City topped the 90-degree mark in 2021.

These high temperatures continued into Monday with more records being challenged throughout the Southwest. Albuquerque hit 81 degrees on Monday, good enough to tie a record that has stood for almost 50 years.

What is Next? Because the jet stream is expected to hover across the Pacific Northwest into the early part of next week, this high pressure system and unseasonably warm temperatures are predicted to continue throughout the Southwest. Although there are no records that are expected to be broken this time around, it will still feel warmer than usual.

Forecasters are predicting that the jet stream will trek to the south into California on Tuesday and Wednesday. This will encourage the heat to move farther to the east while ushering in cooler air from the Pacific inland. This shift will likely set up more seasonal weather for the middle of April by the middle of the week.

Despite the cooldown in temperatures, the shift in the jet stream is not predicted to bring any considerable precipitation along with it. This is not a promising picturing for the ongoing drought conditions that have persisted throughout the Four Corners region.

Dangers of the Early Heat: Because it has been months since residents have experienced this level of heat, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Phoenix is reminding people of the dangers of this weather pattern. Even if the outside temperatures are only in the 80s, the interior of vehicles can rise to over 110 degrees in just 30 minutes. Officials are already warning residents to never leave pets or children unattended in vehicles.

The continued dry conditions coupled with the heat are also raising the risk of fire danger in the region. A wildfire in Pinal County, Arizona erupted on Thursday morning, destroying at least 12 structures and burning through 150 acres.

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