Dry desert heat blasts US Southwest despite cooling rain in Phoenix

PHOENIX, Arizona: Despite some cooling monsoon rain that spelled brief weekend relief for the city of Phoenix, daytime desert heat continues to sweep through much of the U.S. Southwest.

The National Weather Service in Phoenix reported the low temperature dipped around dawn on August 18 to 79 Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius) after an overnight storm dumped about 1.7 inches of rain in that metro area. The monsoon rain ca