From a news article I read today:
It was so hot that two forecasters with the Weather Service in Phoenix decided to demonstrate the oven-like temperatures Saturday and baked cookies on the dash of a 2008 Dodge van.
Two guys from the National Weather Service harnessed the power of the sun and took advantage of the extreme heat wave scorching the Western U.S. to bake up some fresh cookies on the dashboard of their car. TODAY's Dylan Dreyer reports. “We were joking around that we should bake some cookies, because that sounds a lot better than frying an egg,” meteorologist Charlotte Dewey told the Los Angeles Times. “More tasty, anyway.”
One report recorded the temperature in the van at 200 degrees. It took about four hours to bake the cookies – when the temperature hit 116, the cookies were done. Apparently frying an egg on the sidewalk was seen as passé.
In an another unusual occurrence, commuter airline US Airways Express was forced to ground some planes out of Phoenix on Saturday afternoon when temperatures soared above 115, NBC station KPNX reported.
The extreme heat creates less dense air, which does not allow some planes to get the lift they need to fly, according to the station’s meteorologist Matt Pace.