What’s the worst heat you’ve ever experienced in the US?

31 comments

1. I think during a heat wave a few years ago it got up to 43C and very humid. But the air conditioning worked so I mostly stayed indoors. We’ve had three or four straight days of 37-38C weather this week and it has been quite unpleasant!! Exercising in my garage has been a very sweaty endeavor.

2. The Gorge Amphitheater in central Washington, I believe the high that day was 116F.

3. I was in Phoenix Arizona on June 26th 1990 for their all time record high of 122°F. I’ve also been headed to Zion national park in 2016 when my car recorded 125°F outside of St. George Utah

4. Something like low 110sF (45ishC) with the heat index factored in. Without that then like 105F with 80+% humidity. We tend to get a couple days like that pretty much every summer.

5. I don’t know about worst, don’t really keep track because it’s hot every damn year here. We’re having a heat wave right now, my phone says it’s 90F with a feels like temp of 104F right now and it’s only 10:15am. There’s a warning on my app that says heat advisory today with feels like temps of 108 to 112 today. But it all seems normal to me as I’ve lived here 43 years.

6. 108f at boyscout camp

7. 116⁰F

8. I tried to ride my motorcycle around Vegas when it was ~115 Fahrenheit . I was in a tank top and the hot wind whipping my around my skin made me think about the convection oven my mom had recently bought.

   I am much more comfortable at 95 degrees in the American Southwest than at the muggy 85 degrees in the South, but at some point “it’s a dry heat” does not matter.

9. 111 F in Merced, CA. Daily highs during the summer there seem to range from 90 to 105 usually 😅 Gives you a new appreciation for the large number of farmers in the area

10. 116 / 46.5 when camping was pretty annoying. God I hated that week.

11. The hottest I’ve experienced was multiple consecutive days of 120F (49C) in Vegas, but the worst was days of 100-105 (38-40C) with 100% humidity in DC. The humidity is killer, I’d take those dry Vegas days over 90s and humid.

12. Sacramento, it’s common in the summer to reach 110f+. I believe the hottest I’ve seen was 118

13. I remember a few days at or near 120F in Vegas. I was at a crosswalk and actually noticed someone’s shoe started to melt and stick to the pavement. They were really cheap thin flip flops

14. Around 105 degrees.

15. Officially back in 2019 there was a day in July that reached 114°F in my town. Humidity was also up and my wife wanted to go walk in it. That was the most miserable I’ve been. Unofficially, it was actually hotter as I had thermometer that reached 117°F

16. I live in north east Wisconsin and a lot of people would expect it to be desent during the summer with how cold it gets here during winter. No. Summers here suck it’s hot, it’s humid, and you end up sticky just from taking the trash out. I don’t know how people in Florida can handle it as I’m guessing it’s worse there. I went on a road trip south west to California yes it was hot, but the heat was dry so it was the best heat because I’m used to humid as fuck.

17. Somewhere in the mid/high 110s. We’re in the middle of a week straight over 100 right now.

18. June 2017, Northside Festival in Brooklyn, hosted on the mcarren park blacktop in what was already 95 degrees, heat index had to be over 100. Clear sky, very very hot sunshine that was melting the tar on the asphalt. No shade, nowhere to sit, the festival started giving away their $6 water and sunscreen for free because they didn’t want us to die. I got a gnarly concussion from a crowd surfer halfway through the afternoon so this was all amplified for me.

    Many friends (and strangers I’ve met over the years) and I refer to this experience as “the hottest day on planet earth” because even though we know it’s not technically true, it sure felt that way to us.

19. Last year around this time several days on or near 109F, in my hometown.

20. 2011 and 2012 in Oklahoma

    100 days > 100°F in 2011, and 113°F peak actual temperature in 2012.

    Just for fun, I lived in Minnesota during the polar vortex, so I got to experience that nearly -30°F actual temperature also.

21. Around 115-120F in Death Valley.

22. Florida. Fuck Florida.

23. In the US? San Antonio, Texas in August at around 110F

    In another country? ~130F in Kuwait in June.

24. 120 in the south end of Fish Lake Valley which is just north of Death Valley.

25. I dropped boiling soup on my legs.

26. Probably 110 or so. I spent a week in Phoenix in August a few years ago

27. About 6 years ago in the Bay Area, it was 100-110 for several days in a row, a record heatwave for the region. Many people, including me, had no AC so it felt miserable; even fans and portable ACs didn’t offer much relief. For most of the year, AC was not necessary due to relatively pleasant weather, but during rare times like that, the lack of it can really sting.

    Also dealt with unbearable triple digits in the Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, and Redding areas, and even more so in Phoenix and Las Vegas a couple of times. While the temperatures were below 100, the humidity made places such as Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta unbearable; even after taking a shower in the morning, I felt like I needed another one soon after stepping outdoors.

28. Palm Springs, 122⁰. It was so hot my phone would overheat simply from using it outdoors.

29. Hard to say. I grew up in a quite hot climate that the highest I saw was I think 115 but it was a semi-arid area.

    The 97 degrees I experienced in New Orleans was just about as uncomfortable owing to the humidity. When it’s dry, sweat works and shade makes a big difference.

30. Live in the SW (high) desert… Play golf and ride a motorcycle. 110ish is about my limit. Personally experienced 120.

    But the worst I’ve ever lived through was like 100 degrees in Houston. Runner ups are other hot days around the gulf coast. That humidity is soul crushing.

    “But it’s a dry heat!” is a thing.

31. 120 F.