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Mega-Ridge Cause For Near-Record High Temps In Phoenix Area

Published: Friday, June 17, 2016 - 4:02pm
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Hot thermometer.

It could be a record-breaking weekend for the Valley, with temperatures approaching 120. The next few days could also, break existing records for the number of social media photos of dashboard thermometers and attempts to fry eggs on the sidewalk.

What’s behind this heat wave? Two words: mega-ridge.

That's "a ridge of high pressure that is persistent and it's strong and it allows the sun to bake the earth such that temperatures rise to near-record levels," said Angela Fritz, deputy weather editor at the Washington Post and writer for the Capital Weather Gang blog.

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