Yuma County ramps up cooling sites, water stations as triple-digit heat returns

Triple-digit heat is back across Yuma County, and the county and city are directing residents to a 2026 safety net of cooling centers and water sites that can turn a dangerous afternoon into a safer one. The list includes Crossroads Mission at 944 S. Arizona Ave. in Yuma, open around the clock, plus daytime sites such as HOPE, Inc. at 201 S. 1st Ave., National Community Health Partners at 255 W. 24th St. and WACOG at 1235 S. Redondo Center Dr. in Yuma.

Yuma County Public Health Services District tells residents to find the nearest cooling center if they do not have air conditioning and warns anyone working or exercising outdoors to avoid overexertion between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., with hourly breaks in shade or air conditioning. The City of Yuma’s emergency-management office, led by Fire Chief John Louser, also posts a 2026 Water/Cooling Sites Map, while the county says the sites on its 2026 list are operating with their own resources, not as county-run facilities.

The map shows how the response is spread across the county and where it still depends on limited hours. In central Yuma, HOPE, Inc. is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed weekends and holidays. National Community Health Partners runs Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Sept. 30, while WACOG is listed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Sept. 15. Crossroads Mission remains the only 24-hour stop on the list. Other sites include Starbucks at 2383 W. 24th St., Walmart at 8151 E. 32nd St., and south-county stops in San Luis and Somerton.

The urgency is not abstract. The Arizona Department of Health Services says Arizona is one of the hottest places on earth from May to September, estimates about 4,298 heat-related emergency-room visits a year, and says more than 4,320 people died from excessive heat exposure in the state from 2013 through 2024. In 2024, Arizona recorded 5,285 heat-related emergency-department visits and 1,578 hospitalizations, and state health officials say Yuma is among the counties with the highest heat-related emergency-department visit rate per population.

NOAA’s Phoenix weather office says Yuma’s period of record runs from 1878 to 2025, with an average first 100-degree day on April 25 and an average first 110-degree day on June 11. The city averages 109 days a year at 100 degrees or hotter and 23 days a year at 110 degrees or hotter, with a record 53 such days in 1994 and a 31-day stretch in 2023. For outdoor workers, the unhoused and residents without transportation, the gaps are still plain: the relief network is wide, but many sites keep business hours, and the most dependable refuge remains the one open every hour of the day.