It was June 26, 1990, the day Tucson's temperature soared to 117 degrees.

No doubt many Tucsonans were grateful not to live in Phoenix where it topped out at 122.

Some planes scheduled to land at Sky Harbor Airport were diverted to Tucson and other airports because attempting a landing at Sky Harbor at that temperature was unsafe for heavier planes. That decision was made by each airline, according to an Arizona Daily Star article.

We came close to that temperature in 2017 on June 20, when we hit 116 degrees.ย 

With those numbers, today's forecast high of 103 degrees may not be so bad after all.

This article ran June 27, 1990.

This article ran June 27, 1990.


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Johanna Eubank is an online content producer for the Arizona Daily Star and tucson.com. Contact her at jeubank@tucson.com