Fry an Egg on the Hot Streets of Phoenix

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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Fry an Egg on the Hot Streets of Phoenix

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Is it a myth that people can fry an egg on the street in scorching weather? Apparently not. Scientists say a surface needs to be 145 degrees Fahrenheit to fry an egg. It is 117 degrees in Phoenix. But that is the air temperature. On asphalt surfaces, the temperature is as high as 150 degrees. (These American cities have the hottest summers.)
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According to Grainger College of Engineering, Mechanical Science & Engineering department scientists, “On concrete, like black pavements, for example, or if you have a car sitting in a parking lot with no shade and it was painted a dark color, you could reach temperatures approaching 150 Fahrenheit.” It is another sign of how dangerously hot some American cities are today.
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The heat affects more than eggs. The temperature in Phoenix hit a record for July 15 at 118 degrees. The Guardian described it as “hell on earth.” It is likely dozens of people will die in the metro area with a population of about 5 million. Many of these people are homeless.
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A heat level of 118 degrees is labeled as dangerous. Extremely dangerous heat levels start at 125 degrees, which is rarely found anywhere in the world. At temperatures above 100 degrees, it becomes more likely people suffer heat stroke, particularly if they are outside for any period. The body cannot cool itself. Among the symptoms are “abnormal pulse rate, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headache, confusion, fainting, loss of consciousness or death,” according to the Washington Post.
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Frying an egg on the street would initially appear to be a joke. In reality, it signals how precarious the weather in Phoenix is and likely will continue to be.

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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