I grew up in Tucson. In the 70s, Tucson still had entire square miles of empty land embedded in it, and there were many more 1/4 mile squares that were empty desert but with ‘city’ surrounding it. There was no high density housing, which is what modern developers tend to build. IIRC, back then the record high at the airport was 108.
Now, Tucson is heavily built up. Lots of traffic and lots of high density housing and the empty sections sprinkled everywhere are gone. After retiring from the military and returning to this area, I was shocked to see highs of 113 & 115 inside the city on a regular basis.
I live well outside of Tucson, and am 1000’ higher. A hot summer day is normally around 101-103. That is cooler than many cities back east, and dry.
I firmly convinced that much of our ‘global warming’ is due to increased city density and less rural areas.
I worked there for a summer in the mid-70s at a place called Ski Haus. Loved Eegees, lightening storms, the Catalina Mountains, and the sunsets. Every Tucson summer sunset is like a post card.