...9TH JANUARY ON RECORD WITH NO MEASURABLE RAIN...
...DRIEST DECEMBER-JANUARY PERIOD ON RECORD...
...DRIEST NOVEMBER-JANUARY PERIOD ON RECORD...
...2ND DRIEST OCTOBER-JANUARY PERIOD ON RECORD...
...DRIEST SEPTEMBER-JANUARY PERIOD ON RECORD...
...10TH WARMEST JANUARY ON RECORD...

THE DRY WEATHER THAT STARTED IN THE FALL OF 2005 CONTINUED THROUGH
THE FIRST TWO MONTHS OF WINTER 2005-2006 WITH MANY LOW MONTHLY PERIOD
PRECIPITATION RECORDS BEING SET IN TUCSON. JANUARY WAS ANOTHER WARM
MONTH...THE FIFTH IN A ROW...AND THE THIRTEENTH MONTH IN THE PAST
FOURTEEN WITH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES.

THE MAIN STORY DURING JANUARY WAS THE CONTINUED DRY WEATHER PATTERN
THAT HAS BEEN ONGOING SINCE LAST SEPTEMBER. SHORT TERM DROUGHT
CONDITIONS HAVE WORSENED THIS WINTER WITH THE AREA NOW IN A SEVERE
DROUGHT. THE LACK OF RAINFALL SINCE LAST SEPTEMBER HAS SET SEVERAL
MONTHLY PERIOD LOW RAINFALL RECORDS.

FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1972...AND THE NINTH TIME ON RECORD...THE
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT RECORDED NO MEASURABLE RAIN IN JANUARY. A
TRACE OF RAIN WAS RECORDED ON THE 16TH.

TOP 10 DRIEST JANUARY'S
 1) 0.00" 1972/1928/1924/1912/1903
 6) TRACE 2006/1970/1958/1948
10) 0.01" 1999/1996

JANUARY RAINFALL TOTALS SINCE 1995 (NORMAL 0.99")...
2006 ... TRACE     2002 ... 0.34"     1998 ... 0.17"
2005 ... 1.35"     2001 ... 1.24"     1997 ... 0.93"
2004 ... 0.79"     2000 ... 0.10"     1996 ... 0.01"
2003 ... 0.08"     1999 ... 0.01"     1995 ... 1.41"

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE LOW MONTHLY PERIOD PRECIPITATION RECORDS THAT
HAVE BEEN SET...

1) DRIEST DECEMBER TO JANUARY (DJ) PERIOD ON RECORD
    NEW RECORD - 0.01"  DEC. 2005 TO JAN. 2006
    OLD RECORD - 0.03"  DEC. 1958 TO JAN. 1959
    OTHER DJ LOW PERIODS - 0.10" (1999-2000)
                         - 0.16" (1993-1994)
                         - 0.16" (1899-1900)

2) DRIEST NOVEMBER TO JANUARY (NDJ) PERIOD ON RECORD
    NEW RECORD - 0.01"  NOV. 2005 TO JAN. 2006
    OLD RECORD - 0.10"  NOV. 1999 TO JAN. 2000
    OTHER NDJ LOW PERIODS - 0.29" (1966-1967)
                          - 0.47" (1970-1971)
                          - 0.48" (1903-1904)

3) DRIEST SEPTEMBER TO JANUARY (SONDJ) PERIOD ON RECORD
    NEW RECORD - 0.37"  SEP. 2005 TO JAN. 2006
    OLD RECORD - 1.07"  SEP. 1999 T0 JAN. 2000
    OTHER SONDJ LOW PERIODS - 1.08" (1953-1954)
                            - 1.24" (1979-1980)
                            - 1.40" (1973-1974)

THE 2005-2006 WATER YEAR (OCT. 1 THRU JAN. 31ST) IS THE SECOND DRIEST
TO DATE WITH ONLY A THIRD OF AN INCH /0.32"/ BEING RECORDED. THE
RECORD IS A TENTH OF AN INCH /0.10"/ SET IN 1999-2000 WATER YEAR.

TOP 5 DRIEST WATER YEARS TO DATE (NORMAL = 3.90")
1) 0.10" 1999-2000
2) 0.32" 2005-2006 *
3) 0.48" 1903-1904
4) 0.61" 1966-1967
5) 0.91" 1922-1923

THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF 2006 STARTED OFF AS 2005 ENDED...VERY WARM
WITH AFTERNOON HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE 70S. ALTHOUGH SEVERAL DAYS
APPROACHED DAILY RECORD HIGHS...ONLY ONE RECORD WAS TIED. THE HIGH OF
78 DEGREES ON THE 13TH TIED THE RECORD...PREVIOUSLY SET IN 2000 AND
1928. A STRONG PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM SWEPT THROUGH THE STATE ON THE
19TH AND 20TH AND BROUGHT SIGNIFICANTLY COOLER TEMPERATURES TO THE
AREA ALONG WITH ISOLATED LIGHT VALLEY SHOWERS AND HIGH ELEVATION SNOW
SHOWER ACTIVITY. AFTERNOON HIGH TEMPERATURES DROPPED DOWN INTO THE
LOWER 50S ON THE 16TH. A HARD FREEZE WARNING WAS IN EFFECT FOR ONE OF
THE COLDEST MORNING OF THE MONTH...THE 17TH...WITH LOW TEMPERATURES
RANGING FROM THE MID 20S TO THE LOWER 30S. THE REMAINDER OF THE MONTH
HAD AFTERNOON HIGH TEMPERATURES EITHER IN THE 60S TO LOWER 70S.
OVERALL THE MONTH OF JANUARY WAS THE 10TH WARMEST ON RECORD WITH AN
AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 54.5 DEGREES. TEMPERATURE EXTREMES FOR
JANUARY RANGED FROM A HIGH OF 79 DEGREES ON THE 7TH TO A LOW OF 28
DEGREES ON THE 17TH AND 20TH. THREE HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WERE
SET DURING JANUARY: 

DATE  TEMP  OLD RECORD/YEAR
 6TH   54    51 SET IN 1939
14TH   56    53 SET IN 1957
24TH   54    50 SET IN 2005

IN FACT...THE 56 DEGREES ON THE 14TH RANKS AS THE 4TH WARMEST DAILY
LOW TEMPERATURE IN JANUARY ON RECORD. THE TOP THREE WARMEST DAILY
LOW TEMPERATURES IN JANUARY ARE ALL 57 DEGREES AND OCCURRED IN 1965
(17TH)...1938 (15TH) AND 1927 (3RD).

...JANUARY 2006 STATS...       MONTH     NORMAL     DEPARTURE
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE        69.5      64.5        + 5.0
AVERAGE LOW  TEMPERATURE        39.5      38.9        + 0.6
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE             54.5      51.7        + 2.8
RAINFALL                        TRACE     0.99"      - 0.99"
2005-06 WATER YEAR (OCT-JAN)    0.32"     3.90"      - 3.58"

... LOOKING AHEAD INTO FEBRUARY ...
THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER PREDICTS ENHANCED CHANCES FOR ABOVE
NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL. 

AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE ......... 68.4 DEGREES
AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE........... 41.6 DEGREES
AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE ...... 55.0 DEGREES
RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE ..........   92 DEGREES ON FEBRUARY 14 1957
RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE ...........   17 DEGREES ON FEBRUARY  7 1899
WARMEST FEBRUARY (AVG) ........... 61.1 DEGREES IN 1957
COLDEST FEBRUARY (AVG) ........... 45.3 DEGREES IN 1903
NORMAL RAINFALL .................. 0.88 INCHES
WETTEST FEBRUARY DAY ............. 1.26 INCHES ON FEBRUARY 7 1966
WETTEST FEBRUARY ................. 4.15 INCHES IN 1905
DRIEST FEBRUARY .................. ZERO INCHES IN 1984/1972/1898
RECORD FEBRUARY SNOWFALL .........  4.9 INCHES IN 1903

THE NUMBER OF DAYLIGHT HOURS WILL INCREASE FROM 10 HOURS 39 MINUTES
ON THE FIRST TO 11 HOURS 29 MINUTES ON THE 28TH...A GAIN OF 50
MINUTES.

GLUECK