As Phoenix breaks daily heat record for 3rd day in a row, homes are becoming 'air fryers'

PHOENIX - Phoenix has just broken a daily heat record for the third day in a row, and it's only getting hotter.

Temperatures at Sky Harbor Airport reached 115 degrees Thursday afternoon, breaking the old record of 114 degrees set in 1978 - and the high is expected to eventually rise to 118°.

This is the fourth consecutive day of highs that reached 115° or greater, according to the National Weather Service.

Homes become ‘air fryers’

Temperatures have peaked at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) the entire month of July in Phoenix. Air conditioning, which made modern Phoenix even possible, is a lifeline.

When a cloudless sky combines with outdoor temperatures over 100 F, your house turns into an "air fryer" or "broiler," as the roof absorbs powerful heat and radiates it downward, said Jonathan Bean, co-director of the Institute for Energy Solutions at the University of Arizona. Bean knows this not only from his research, he also experienced it firsthand this weekend when his air conditioner broke.

"This level of heat that we are having in Phoenix right now is enormously dangerous, particularly for people who either don’t have air conditioning or cannot afford to operate their air conditioner," said Evan Mallen, a senior analyst for Georgia Institute of Technology’s Urban Climate Lab.

Yet some are cutting back on AC, trying to bear the heat, afraid of the high electricity bills that will soon arrive.

High electric bills

Camille Rabany, 29, has developed her own system to keep herself and her 10-month-old Saint Bernard Rigley cool during the Arizona heat wave. Through trial and error, Rabany found that 83 F is a temperature she is willing to tolerate to keep her utility bill down.

By tracking the on-peak and off-peak schedule of her utility, Arizona Public Service, with the help of her NEST smart thermostat, Rabany keeps her home that hot from 4 to 7 p.m., the most expensive hours. She keeps fans running and has a cooling bed for Rigley, and they both try to get by until the utility’s official peak hours pass.

"Those are the hours that I have it at the hottest I’m willing to have it because I have a dog," she said. Last month, Rabany said her utility bill was around $150.

Emily Schmidt's home cooling strategy in Tempe, Ariz. also centers around her dog. Air conditioning is "constantly a topic of conversation," with her partner, too, she said.

"Sometimes I wish I could have it cooler, but we have to balance saving money and making sure the house isn’t too hot for our pets."

With the unrelenting heat of the recent weeks, "I’m honestly afraid what the electric bill will be, which makes it really hard to budget with rent and other utilities."

Katie Martin, administrator of home improvements and community services at the Foundation for Senior Living, said she sees the pet issue, too. Older people on limited incomes are making dangerous tradeoffs and often won't come to cooling centers when they don't allow pets.

"In recent years we are finding that most of the seniors we serve are keeping their thermostat at 80 F to save money," she said.

Many also lack a support network of family or friends they can turn to in case of air conditioner breakdowns.

A/C breakdowns

Breakdowns can be dangerous. Models from Georgia Tech show that indoors can be even hotter than outdoors, something people in poorly-insulated homes around the world are well acquainted with. "A single family, one-story detached home with a large, flat roof heats up by over 40 degrees in a matter of hours if they don’t have air conditioning," Mallen said.

The Salvation Army has some 11 cooling stations across the Phoenix area. Lt. Colonel Ivan Wild, commander of the organization's southwest division, said some of the people visiting now can't afford their electricity bills or don't have adequate air conditioning.

"I spoke to one elderly lady and she that her air conditioning is just so expensive to run. So she comes to the Salvation Army and stays for a few hours, socializes with other people, and then goes home when it’s not as hot," he said.

While extreme heat happens every summer in Phoenix, Wild said that a couple of Salvation Army cooling centers have reported seeing more people than last year. The Salvation Army estimates that since May 1, they have provided nearly 24,000 people with heat relief and distributed nearly 150,000 water bottles in Arizona and Southern Nevada.

Marilyn Brown, regents professor of sustainable systems at Georgia Tech, said that high air conditioning bills also force people to cut spending in other areas. "People give up a lot, often, in order to run their air conditioner... they might have to give up on some medicine, the cost of the gasoline for their car to go to work or school," she said.

"That’s why we have such an alarming cycle of poverty. It’s hard to get out of it, especially once you get caught up in the energy burden and poverty," Brown added.

Country music fans line up for concert despite extreme heat

Despite the extreme heat, fans of country music singer Morgan Wallen lined up early in Downtown Phoenix for the singer's concert.

Wallen also performed on July 19. For fans who went to that concert, the heat definitely had an impact.

"I was in the 210 section, and it was so hot," said Kylie Soto.

"We were just at the concert last week for Nickelback, and it was hot, and we walked inside, and we got cool, we were good. This one, we were a bit surprised on how hot it was from the entrance to our seats," said Mark Canenguez.

Fans said the AC was not powerful enough inside Chase Field for the 50,000 people who attended the concert.

"Honestly, once you got inside, it just felt muggy and gross," said Soto. "People were dripping sweat."

Soto said some concertgoers left before Wallen even came on stage.

"A bottle of water was $10 inside, and they were charging $12 for just a cup of ice," said Soto.

"I did see a lot of people just drinking tons of water during some of the concert whenever certain people were on. We saw people drinking water a lot," said Cananguez.

Officials with Chase Field said they began running the air conditioning at 7:00 a.m., before Wednesday night's concert. However, they say because of the extreme heat and a sold-out crowd, it was warmer than usual, and that heat entered through doors being opened in the middle of the afternoon.

Chase Field officials said they will be running the AC at full output for the concert on July 20.

Malls become refuge for Phoenix area residents

As the relentless heat continues, some residents trying to beat the heat are turning to the good old shopping mall as a place to beat the heat.

"Our goal is to get out of here, come here today, have the AC on, and the bill goes to the mall," said Lori White.

Inside Scottsdale Fashion Square, temperatures were much cooler than the temperatures outside.

"It’s probably somewhere between 68 and 74, depending on how many bodies are in here," said Lauren McGlinch with Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Besides escaping the heat, there are some 200 stores to browse inside the mall.

"It's just come in, shopping, just something fun to get out," said Cindy White.

The mall's cool environment also gave some a chance to do some low impact workout.

"It’s 119F outside right now. I can’t walk in Arizona in the afternoon, and I got to get my steps in," said Mark Yezwn.

You can check the latest weather conditions by visiting the FOX 10 Phoenix weather page, or download the Free FOX 10 Weather app, which is available on Apple iOS and Android.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Beatrice Dupuy contributed to this story from New York and Melina Walling contributed from Chicago.