America’s Hot Spots This Week: The 10 Hottest Places in the Lower 48

By Paul Harrison, Orbis Weather

Week of Thursday, October 15 to Wednesday, October 21, 2026. Published Thursday, October 22, 2026.

California owned the heat this week. The highest reading in the Lower 48 was 99°F (37.2°C), reached at six California locations between October 15 and 17, including Los Angeles International Airport. All ten places on this week’s list are in California. After October 17, no location in the Lower 48 topped 96°F (35.6°C), according to the Weather Prediction Center’s (WPC) preliminary daily extremes.

The top 10

Six places tied at 99°F (37.2°C) and four airports followed at 98°F (36.7°C). Ties are listed by date.

The 99°F readings are WPC’s national daily highs; the 98°F readings come from airport and official climate station data. LAX’s 99°F was 25°F (13.9°C) above its normal high of 74°F (23.3°C) but short of the date’s record of 103°F (39.4°C), set in 1958.

Outside California, the hottest reading of the week was 96°F (35.6°C) at Coolidge, Arizona, the national high on October 21.

What stands out

The heat was brief and coastal. Thursday through Saturday, October 15–17, produced every top-10 reading, and Friday, October 16, alone produced seven of them. Beach and near-coast towns such as Laguna Beach, Santa Monica and Montecito ran hotter than the desert that day.

The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed these daily records in preliminary record reports:

The week ahead

None of the Lower 48’s usual hot spots is forecast to top 90°F (32.2°C) through Wednesday, October 28. South Texas leads, while a Pacific storm cools the Southwest before highs there recover early next week.

None of these forecasts carried a heat advisory. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center favors above-normal temperatures for October 27–31 across most of the eastern US and for Southern California, the Southwest and the central and southern Rockies (outlook issued October 21).

How this list is made

The list ranks the highest daily maximum temperature at each place over the seven days ending Wednesday. It uses WPC’s daily national high and low reports and NWS airport and climate station observations. Each place appears once, at its hottest reading. The figures are preliminary and can be revised after quality control. WPC names only each day’s top reading, so another non-airport station could have matched the 98°F (36.7°C) readings. A one-hour spike to 100.4°F (38.0°C) at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport on October 16 is excluded as a likely sensor error: readings an hour before and after were 82.4°F (28.0°C), and nearby Phoenix reached 87°F (30.6°C).

Frequently asked questions

Was the coast really hotter than the desert? Yes, on October 16. Coastal Southern California stations reached the upper 90s that day, while Death Valley topped out at 97°F (36.1°C). Readings across the region fell back after October 17.

Did Los Angeles set a record? No. LAX reached 99°F (37.2°C) on October 16, below the date’s record. Nearby Newport Beach did set a new daily record that day.

Is any extreme heat coming next week? Not in the NWS forecasts for the usual hot spots. South Texas peaks near 90°F (32.2°C) this weekend, and no heat advisories were listed.

Why include non-airport stations? The Weather Prediction Center’s national high draws on a wider network than airports. Including it means the list reflects the hottest readings NOAA itself reported.