hot enough fer ya? Phoenix breaks 86 year old heat record!

Sure it was 118 but it was a dry heat! Who says that? People who never had to work outside in it!
That said it beat the old high of 115 for 31 July. If it gets 118 way out in the boondocks that's understandable.
But 118 in a major city with millions of people? That's just not cool (no pun intended) and I am so glad I'm still not living there commuting 90 minutes a day in my 1984 Toyota pickup with no air conditioning!

Just a little perspective when a summer heatwave starts kicking us south dwellers around!

https://ktar.com/story/3449848/phoenix-breaks-86-year-record-temperature-rises-to-118-degrees/

1) Urban heat island effect.
2) Phoenix sits in a bowl-shaped valley that lets hot still air just sort of sit there.
3) Global warming.

4) airlines grounded because they don't keep weights and balances tables for that extreme.

4a) maybe they do now.

sometimes I imagine what it must have been like living there before AC of any sort.

They do now. They learned their lesson in 1990 when it hit 122.

I grew up in houses that mainly had swamp coolers that didn't work. It was not fun.

Those who lived here before AC was invented used to do things like hang wet sheets in the windows. Also, it wasn't as hot back then.

swamp coolers suck! Better than nothing though I guess.

In 10% humidity they blow cool comfortable air and you can leave the windows and doors open.

true! But with by-gawd AC I can have cool comfortable air guaranteed no matter what the humidity level.

A properly set up swamp cooler works pretty well. In Boise the Home Depot I worked at had them. Once the temps got to 100 the benefit was, negligible.

thus in Phoenix when you need them the most (temps above 100) they just don't cut it. For example Phoenix today in in their 34th straight day of being above 110 degrees.

That's because there is too much irrigation and the humidity is higher than it would be naturally.

negative about irrigation. Many former agricultural areas adjacent to Phoenix have been taken over by housing developments. And the humidity level in the Phoenix is normally/typically low. The only areas of high humidity this time of year are in eastern arizona (such as the white mountains for example) which have "monsoon" weather with afternoon showers very common. That said the monsoons are pretty much over by now. Phoenix is just hot as shit and always has been, full stop. My wife's family has been living there for generations.

Lawn irrigation.

yes that could be a factor - and worse than that GOLF COURSES which is about the biggest waste of space/water I can think of in a desert environment.

A swamp cooler works great when it's 110 outside as long as it's not humid. Once the humidity creeps up, the game is over.