Step aside Arizona, the title of “hottest city in the U.S.” in July was in California — but just barely.
As announced by the Climate Office at Arizona State University, Needles, the Route 66 mainstay that lies on the border between the two states, was the warmest city in the nation last month.
Needles achieved that prestigious title by averaging a temperature of 103.2 degrees between June 30 and July 30.
“Phoenix is happy to relinquish the record to Needles, now the hottest monthly U.S. city,” the climate office said on X, formerly Twitter.
Phoenix wasn’t too far behind at 101.1 degrees on average.
The two hottest cities in the U.S. only have heat in common.
Phoenix is the fifth-largest city by population in the county with about 1.61 million residents. Needles, by comparison, has just less than 5,000 permanent residents — although it serves as a major traffic hub along Interstate 40 and straddles the Colorado River.
Two other California cities averaged more than 100 degrees in July — Blythe and Palm Springs.