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Phoenix’s extreme summer heat is officially here. For the next couple of months, Valley residents will be lathering up with sunscreen, pulling up their car’s sun shade and staying inside to avoid the heat.
This is just the beginning.
If you want to avoid the Phoenix heat, get out of town in July – that’s historically the hottest month in the Valley, with an average temperature of 93.5 degrees from 1924 to 2025. August isn’t far behind, with an average temperature of 91.7. June is typically cooler, averaging 88.6 degrees.

Data from the National Weather Service
So, how will this year stack up to the hottest months in Phoenix’s history? Here are the 10 hottest months in the Valley’s history by average temperature, according to the National Weather Service.
10. July 2003 – 97.6 degrees
Rounding out Phoenix’s hottest months, this was the sixth-hottest July in Phoenix’s history. The city recorded a record high of 117 degrees on July 16, marking the hottest day of the year up to that point.
9. July 2025 – 98.2 degrees
Last July was the fifth-hottest July in Phoenix’s history. The city recorded a record high of 118 degrees on July 9, making it the hottest day of the month and of the year.
Tie-7. August 2011 and July 2009 – 98.3 degrees
Fittingly, given their identical average temperatures, these months both rank as the fourth-hottest in August and July in Valley history.
6. August 2024 – 98.7 degrees
August 2024 was the third-hottest August on record in Phoenix. The average high was around 109 degrees.
5. August 2023 – 98.8 degrees
This is the second-hottest August in Phoenix history. Summer 2023 was also the driest monsoon season on record, as Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport recorded less than 0.15 inches of rain that season.
4. July 2020 – 98.9 degrees
This is the third-hottest July in Phoenix’s history. A few months into the pandemic, it set records as the hottest month ever recorded in Phoenix, though that record was broken just a month later. The average high was 109.8 degrees.
3. August 2020 – 99.1 degrees
Following a record-breaking hot July, August 2020 became the hottest August in Phoenix’s history. According to NWS, the summer of 2020 saw a record-breaking 145 days of temperatures above 100 degrees.
2. July 2024 – 101.1 degrees
All three summer months of 2024 land on this list. Fittingly, summer 2024 was the city’s hottest ever. That year, the city had a record-breaking 70 days of temperatures above 110 degrees.
1. July 2023 – 102.7 degrees
For many Phoenix residents, July 2023 is a hard one to forget. The month saw 31 straight days of temperatures above 110 degrees, which made national news. While being the hottest July ever recorded and the hottest month in Phoenix’s history, it was also the hottest month recorded in any U.S. city.