Hottest city in Arizona? That'd be Lake Havasu City
If you hear of Lake Havasu City and imagine it’s a relaxing place to sit by the water and escape the summer heat, think again.
Despite the name and the cool lakefront breezes it would seem to imply, Lake Havasu City is the hottest place in Arizona.
Arizona's hottest day
On June 29, 1994, Lake Havasu City reached 128 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded in Arizona. That made Lake Havasu City the second hottest place in the United States, trailing only Death Valley in California.
Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley hit 134 degrees on July 10, 1913, (the highest documented temperature on Earth according to the World Meteorological Organization) and has topped 128 degrees seven times, according to the National Weather Service in Las Vegas.
Turns out Lake Havasu doesn't have much impact on the weather in that city at all.
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Along the Colorado River
If you look at the highest temperatures recorded in Arizona, you’ll find many are along the Colorado River in places such as Bullhead City, Parker, Willow Beach and Yuma. In the Phoenix metro area, only Buckeye, Laveen and Litchfield Park would make the list thanks to an exceptionally hot couple of days in July 1995 when highs reached 125 degrees.
Phoenix’s record high of 122 degrees on June 26, 1990, doesn't even crack the top 10.
Lake Havasu City has 11 days with highs of at least 123 degrees and Bullhead City has reached that mark 17 times. Bullhead City’s record high is 126 degrees on five occasions (most recently on June 23, 2017.
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It's a dry heat
State Climatologist Nancy Selover said the Colorado River can’t compete with the nearby desert and climate factors that have a bigger influence on western Arizona.
“It’s kind of on the downhill side of the California mountains and it’s very isolated,” Selover said. “There are lots of rocks and those get very hot. And I know during the summer the monsoon circulation typically does not get there. They end up being kind of like Death Valley.”
The lack of monsoon circulation heats up western Arizona in a few ways.
Without clouds to provide some relief from the sun (not to mention the chance for rain), solar energy during long late-spring and early summer days is unchecked. Without monsoon moisture, the air is incredibly dry. And it takes less energy to heat dry air than moist air, so temperatures can soar.
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Desert heat island
The rocky terrain also contributes to a sort of a heat-island effect in a relatively sparsely populated area. Those rocks hold onto heat in a similar fashion to concrete and asphalt found in big cities and keep temperatures from falling as much at night.
“It’s a real dry, dry, dry hot desert to the west of there,” Selover said. “Sometimes you’ll get winds still coming from the west that are blowing that hot air in that direction. There’s just no moisture.”
No irrigation
Another factor that contributes to the heat in the Lake Havasu City area is the lack of agricultural activity in the area.
Selover said some places that share similar geography to the Arizona cities along the Colorado River get a little relief from having irrigated crops nearby.
“Places like Needles, Bakersfield are not quite as hot probably only because those towns are in the middle of irrigated agriculture,” Selover said. “Even Blythe, they’re constantly irrigating all around the place. But in Bullhead City, nothing is going on like that. They’re not growing a single thing.”
The rest of Arizona gets plenty hot, but elevation and monsoon moisture tend to keep temperatures from reaching these levels.