Environment & Energy

Martinez Lake, about 145 miles west of Phoenix, reached 110F (43.3C) on Thursday amid scorching south-west heat

Guardian staff and agencies
Fri 20 Mar 2026 14.22 EDT

A small community in the Arizona desert has broken a record for the highest March temperature ever recorded in the US, as the south-west bakes in a blistering late-winter heatwave.

The astonishing temperature was recorded just outside Martinez Lake, Arizona, which reached 110F (43.3C) on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.

The community is about 145 miles (233km) west of Phoenix and sits on the Arizona-California border, in the Yuma desert.

The previous record of 108F (42.2 C) had been set in Rio Grande City, Texas, in 1954 and was tied on Wednesday by the tiny desert community of North Shore, California.

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