July is almost certain to go down as the warmest month in 136 years of weather records in El Paso. And it’s not even close.

El Paso’s average temperature during the month has been more than 92 degrees through the first 23 days of the month. Before this year, El Paso never had a month where the average temperature exceeded 89 degrees.

Here are the 10 hottest months in El Paso weather records dating back to 1887.

The remaining days of the month will be moderately cooler than the first three weeks of July. Even with that, El Paso’s average temperature for July likely will wind up exceeding 91 degrees, more than 2 degrees hotter than any other month on record.

Note that all 10 of El Paso’s warmest months have come since 1994, with eight of them since 2014 and seven since 2016. That’s the impact of climate change.

It’s been more than five weeks since El Paso had a high below 100, on June 15. (It was 99 that day.) El Paso has not had a day below 100 yet this summer, which began on June 21. The previous deepest we’d ever gotten into the summer without a day below 100 was July 15, 1994.

And 1994 was the previous record for most consecutive days over 100, at 23. We’ve blown past that.

El Paso’s weather the last five weeks hasn’t just been hot, it’s been really hot. Sunday was the first time during the streak where the high was just at 100, and only four days had a high of 101.

During the past five weeks, the temperature has hit 109 or more seven times, tying 1994 for the most in a single year at that temperature or higher. El Paso – which never had a single day of temperatures of 109 or more before 1960 – had high temperatures Monday through Thursday of 109, 109, 111 and 109. Friday topped out at 107.

On three different occasions this year, El Paso has had six or more consecutive days of temperatures reaching 105 or more. Between 1887 and 1979, El Paso had only three such streaks of six-plus days at those temperatures.

And it’s not just the days that are hot. Nights aren’t cooling. So far this year, El Paso has had 14 days where the temperature didn’t drop below 80, including 11 times so far in July. For context, El Paso had only six such days between 1900 and 1950.

The impact of climate change in El Paso is perhaps most evident in spring and summer nights. Six of the seven years with the most days of low temperatures of 80 or warmer have occurred in the past six years. El Paso’s low temperature has been 85 degrees twice in the past four weeks, tying the record for the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in El Paso.

The combination of really hot days and warm nights means that El Paso’s average temperature for July will likely end up more than 2 degrees warmer than any other month in our history. 

So far in 2023, we’ve had 29 days so far where the average temperature has been 90 degrees or more (a high of 100 and low of 80 produces a daily average temperature of 90).

From 1900 through 1950, El Paso had 29 total days where the temperature averaged 90 or more.

5:45 p.m. July 23: This story has been updated with data through July 23.