The Hottest Day Ever in Phoenix: An Oral History

[Mosby]

Esmé will always remember June 26, 1990. People don’t tend to forget days when their underpants literally melted due to the heat. The Valley resident was working at Sky Harbor International Airport as a wardrobe artist on a commercial shoot for the now-defunct America West Airlines.

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The temperature outside would eventually reach 122 degrees, a record hasn’t been broken since. It was part of a miserable, weeklong heat wave in Arizona that — in addition to baking everyone’s brains and giving transplants a reason to second-guess their decision to move here — resulted in dozens of hospitalizations and at least three deaths.

Phoenix earned headlines nationwide and was the butt of quips from late-night TV talk show hosts. Valley meteorologists had a field day. Entrepreneurs made a fortune selling commemorative T-shirts within hours. Local utility Salt River Project reported sky-high power usage figures. A lot of people freaked out.

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https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/hottest-day-ever-in-phoenix-oral-history-122-degrees-11477223

I was working in Sun city at the time, driving there on my motorcycle. The heat was just unreal.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. That's hot! I was there around that time when it hit 115 and that was bad enough.

[ZZenith]

2. We played a gig in Phoenix that night!

Pulled in at 3pm and all the gear in the truck was too hot to touch. We were in the swimming pool at midnight and it was still 111 degrees. Frickin’ miserable.

They say “the worst weather is the most memorable” and that’s exactly right. And with so many swimming pools in Phoenix it is actually a muggy heat. Ugh. God forbid that record ever gets beat but it probably will.

[Kali]

6. more like golf courses, lawns and fake lakes

and back in the days, actual farms

[underpants]

3. Very cool all the perspectives from musicians

Nice article.

[Devilsun]

4. I had just started working as a carpenter

We were working on a roof in Mesa. It was surreal.

[ChazInAz]

8. I was on stage.

Playing Richard III in an outdoor theater, made of concrete that was like an oven.
In Medieval brocades and velvets, plastic armor, and a foam rubber hump on my left shoulder. And Richard is onstage almost continuously in the play!
The show went on, but we players were afraid that the play's body count would be higher than Shakespeare intended.

[WyLoochka]

5. I took my one and only golf lesson

On that day.

[pansypoo53219]

7. i embrace milwaukee snow. no fucking way.

[DesertRat]

9. I remember it well!

I spent the day lounging in our backyard pool. I didn't realize that we'd broken a record until we made national news and out of town friends and family started calling to see if we were ok.

Here's the next morning's newspaper: