A record string of daily highs over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) in Phoenix ended Monday as the dangerous heat wave that suffocated the Southwest throughout July receded slightly with cooling monsoon rains.

The historic heat began blasting the region in June, stretching from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert. Phoenix and its suburbs sweltered more and longer than most, with several records including the 31 consecutive days of 43.4 degrees Celsius weather. The previous record was 18 straight days, set in 1974.

The streak was finally broken Monday, when the high topped out at a meagre 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42.2 C) at 3:10 p.m.

“The record streak of 31 straight days of 110-plus degree temperatures has ended,” the weather service said on social media. “The high temperature at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport reached 108 degrees this afternoon, which is only 2 degrees above normal.”

The reprieve was expected to be brief, with the forecast calling for highs again above 110 for several days later in the week. And National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Hirsch said August could be even hotter than July.

But residents and visitors were taking what they could get.

“It has been REALLY hot here!” said Jeffrey Sharpe, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who was in town for a long weekend that on Monday included watching his son’s two poodles frolic in a grassy dog park. “But today it was about 85 degrees, more like Wisconsin.”

Phoenix also sweated through a record 16 consecutive days when overnight lows didn’t dip below 90 degrees (32.2 C), making it hard for people to cool off after the sun went down.

In California, Death Valley, long considered the hottest place on Earth, flirted in July with some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded, reaching 125.6 degrees Fahrenheit (52.5 C) on July 16 at the aptly named Furnace Creek.

The planet’s hottest recorded temperature ever was 134 F (56.67 C) in July 1913 at Furnace Creek, according to the World Meteorological Organization, the body recognized as keeper of world records.

And in Nevada, also on July 16, Las Vegas briefly reached 116 degrees (46.6 C) to tie the record for that date set in 1998.

The heat in Phoenix began to ease slightly last week with the city’s first major storm since the monsoon season began June 15.

R. Glenn Williamson, a businessman who was born in Canada but has lived in Phoenix for years, said he really noticed a temperature difference Monday morning as he washed his car in his driveway.

“Now we have to get rid of the humidity!” Williamson said. “But honestly, I’d rather have this heat than a Montreal winter.”