Extreme Heat Warning — Western Pima County Including Ajo/Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument; Tohono O'odham Nation including Sells; Tucson Met was recorded by Global Incident Tracker on Thursday, 20 August 2026 at 07:27 UTC. The event is classified as a heat wave incident with a severity rating of Severe, and was detected through the US National Weather Service (NWS).
Extreme Heat Warning issued August 20 at 12:27AM MST until August 21 at 8:00PM MST by NWS Tucson AZ * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with high temperatures ranging between 103 to 110 degrees and low temperatures 79 to 85 degrees. Major HeatRisk is expected. * WHERE...South Central Pinal County, Southeast Pinal County, Tohono O'odham Nation, Tucson Metro Area, Upper Gila River Valley, and Western Pima County. * WHEN...Until 8 PM MST Friday. * IMPACTS...Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat events.
Where this happened
The incident is located in United States (North America), whose capital is Washington, D.C.. Historically, United States is most affected by hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, earthquakes and floods. You can follow every incident recorded in this country, updated live, on the United States incident tracker.
Approximate coordinates of the reported event are 37.100°, -95.700°. The marker on the map above shows this position; for news-derived reports the location reflects the place named in media coverage and may represent a district or city rather than an exact site.
Understanding heat wave events
Extended extreme heat with excess mortality and infrastructure stress. Heat kills quietly, mostly through cardiovascular and kidney stress in older adults, outdoor workers and people without cooling. Overnight temperature matters as much as the daytime peak, because bodies need cool hours to recover.
How severity is rated
Global Incident Tracker rates every event on a four-step scale — Minor, Moderate, Severe and Extreme — derived from the source signal: earthquake magnitude, official GDACS alert colour, or the volume of independent media reporting for news-derived incidents. This event is currently rated Severe. Ratings can change as more information becomes available, and a rating is a monitoring signal rather than an official government assessment.
Safety guidance for heat wave situations
- Drink water before feeling thirsty and avoid alcohol and heavy meals in peak heat.
- Check on older neighbours, people living alone and outdoor workers daily.
- Never leave children or animals in a parked vehicle.
- Know heat-stroke signs: confusion, hot dry skin, collapse — these are medical emergencies.
- Follow only official instructions from local authorities and emergency services — this page is a monitoring record, not an emergency alert.
Data and verification
This record was generated automatically from the US National Weather Service (NWS) and de-duplicated against our archive. Early reports for any incident can be revised: locations get refined, magnitudes are recalculated and impact figures change as assessments arrive. We deliberately do not publish casualty numbers unless an official source states them. The original source report is linked at the top of this page.
Keep watching the situation on our live world incident map, browse every heat waves we track on the Heat Wave tracker, or see today's global picture on the incidents today page.
Timeline and sources
Official warning
Issued by U.S. National Weather Service. A warning or forecast describes a hazard; on its own it is not a report that harm occurred.
How statuses are decided · the number of reports is never treated as confirmation.
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· received · event time 20 Aug 2026, 07:27 UTCFirst report Official warning
First recorded from U.S. National Weather Service.
Times are when this site received each report, in UTC; the event time is shown where the source gave one. Copies of one syndicated story count as one report.
Conditions at the time
No rainfall was recorded that day, and the temperature peaked at 36°C. Conditions are shown for context only — they do not establish a cause.
Weather reanalysis for this location and date via Open-Meteo.