TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — There have been 112 days where Tucson hit 100 degrees or hotter this year, the most since the National Weather Service started keeping track in 1895.
And people aren’t the only ones who have been feeling the heat; desert plants are wilting around town.
The Tucson Botanical Gardens, located in Midtown near Grant and Alvernon, has a dedicated staff that cares for diverse plant life. But even those plants have been affected by the heat.
Just like people, plants can get sunburnt, dehydrated, and suffer from heat stress. Enough heat could be deadly.
Adam Farrell-Wortman, the Director of Horticulture, is in charge of keeping the plants healthy.
“I’m actually, a little concerned, because of the heat that we had at the end of the season,” he said.
This fall, Tucson tied or broke daily heat records on 19 out of 20 days from late September through mid-October, and set the city’s latest-ever date hitting 105-plus.
Farrell-Wortman says some of the damage to plant life may not be visible until next year. He says heat stress can come from extreme high temperatures, or as is the case this year, huge temperature swings. He says the cooler weather that briefly arrived last month triggered plants to prepare for fall, only for this historic heat wave to change the Garden’s watering plans.
“[Plants need] a break from that high heat in order to metabolize and photosynthesize and all that good stuff that plants do,” he explained.
Luckily, Tucson tends to get that break with cool overnight lows compared to other parts of the state. Farrell-Wortman says he’s more concerned about saguaros dying in the Phoenix area, which also saw record heat this fall and where it often runs 10 to 15 degrees hotter.
Farrell-Wortman says there are proactive steps cities like Tucson can take.
“With shade, planting trees, and things like that, we can ensure that even if the average temperatures globally continue to rise, like they probably will, we’ll at least start mitigating those effects immediately,” he said.
Those effects are even being felt by some of the world’s most resilient, heat-resistant plants.
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Ryan Fish is an anchor and reporter for KGUN 9 and comes to the Sonoran Desert from California’s Central Coast after working as a reporter, sports anchor and weather forecaster in Santa Barbara. Ryan grew up in the Chicago suburbs, frequently visiting family in Tucson. Share your story ideas and important issues with Ryan by emailing ryan.fish@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
