Las Vegas Sees Its Hottest Summer on Record

[donsutherland1]

After a brief hiatus following three consecutive record hot summers (2016-2018), Las Vegas demolished its summer heat record.

Summer 2024 got off to a blistering start with its hottest June on record. July became that City’s hottest month on record. August also became its hottest August on record.

July featured a 12-day extreme heat event (Clarke et al., 2014 methodology) during which the temperature reached or exceed 115° on a record seven consecutive days. That extreme heat event was highlighted by Las Vegas’ hottest reading on record (120°) and three other temperatures that surpassed the old all-time mark of 117°.

On account of the historic heat, Las Vegas saw its longest stretches of 80° or above lows, 105° or above highs, 110° or above highs, and 115° or above highs:

• 80° or above lows: 63 days, June 21-August 22; old record: 33 days, July 4-August 5, 2020
• 105° or above highs: 43 days, June 20-August 1; old record: 25 days, June 15-July 9, 2017
• 110° or above highs: 11 days, July 3-13; old record: 10 days, June 17-26, 1961 and July 14-23, 2023
• 115° or above high: 7 days, July 6-12; old record: 4 days, July 16-19, 2005

Anthropogenic climate change amplified by the urban heat island effect is driving a warming of Las Vegas’ summers. The warming has accelerated in recent decades. Between 1950 and 2023, summers have warmed by 0.8° per decade in Las Vegas. Since 1980, summers have warmed by 1.0° per decade.

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[TheClimateChanger]

Thanks for the update, Don. It will be interesting to see whether 2024 was able to unseat 2021 and 1936 for hottest summer on a national scale. The fist two months of summer were in 2nd place, slightly behind 2021 and slightly ahead of 1936. While August was certainly warmer than normal, I feel like it was a bit cooler nationwide... so I think we may wind up just behind those years, but we'll see. Stay tuned.

[GaWx]

2 hours ago, TheClimateChanger said:

Thanks for the update, Don. It will be interesting to see whether 2024 was able to unseat 2021 and 1936 for hottest summer on a national scale. The fist two months of summer were in 2nd place, slightly behind 2021 and slightly ahead of 1936. While August was certainly warmer than normal, I feel like it was a bit cooler nationwide... so I think we may wind up just behind those years, but we'll see. Stay tuned.

My educated guess is no because in a good portion of the central and E US, especially the Midwest, August of 2024 wasn’t as hot as Aug of 2021. In much of the C/E US, June was the hottest month anomaly-wise and in some cases even outright. Much of the Midwest as well as some of the Plains and mid-south had only near to only slightly warmer than the 1991-2020 normal for July-August, combined.

[Typhoon Tip]

the previous several top years were rarely more than a few short decimals warmer than the previous record warm summers.

this one bucked that by surpassing the previous by 2.5 whole degrees. 

sometimes the value of the differential is more important than the achievement

[donsutherland1]

Las Vegas reached 100° for the 100th day this year today. That tied the longstanding record for most such years that has stood since 1947.