After recording the warmest monthly average temperature for any U.S. city ever in July, Phoenix is poised to climb back up to dangerously high temperatures this week. That could mean trouble not just for people but for some plants, too
After recording the warmest monthly average temperature for any U.S. city ever in July, Phoenix climbed back up to dangerously high temperatures Wednesday. That could mean trouble not just for people but for some plants, too.
At the Desert Botanical Garden, three of the treasured institution's more than 1,000 saguaro cacti have toppled over or lost an arm in the last week, a rate that officials there say is highly unusual. People commonly assume that cacti are made to endure scorching heat, but even they can have their limits, McCue said. It wasn't just this summer's 31-day streak of highs at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit , but also the multiple nights when the low never dipped below 90 degrees . Nighttime is when cacti open their pores to get rid of retained water and take in carbon dioxide, she explained.
It can be a mixed bag -- cooling sweltering cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix but bringing the risk of flooding to mountain towns and low-lying deserts alike. It carries a promise of rain but doesn't always deliver. And even when it does, the moisture isn't shared equally across the Four Corners region and beyond. The last two seasons were impressive, and the two before that largely duds.
"We do take a lot of precautions, especially to our planters and people that don't just work in the office," Booth said. "Our yard crew, they're in long sleeves. They have their straw hats on. We make sure we have bottled water in the fridge at all times. We haven't had any heat exhaustion yet out of this ."
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Phoenix has ended 31-day streak of highs at or above 110 F as rains ease a Southwest heat waveA record string of daily highs over 43.3 C in Phoenix ended Monday as the dangerous heat wave that suffocated the Southwest throughout July receded slightly with cooling monsoon rains.
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