...JANUARY HIGHLIGHTS...
...NORMAL JANUARY TEMPERATURES...
...27TH DRIEST JANUARY ON RECORD**...
...5-8 INCHES OF RAIN RECORDED IN TWO DAYS ON THE CATALINAS...
...CURRENT WINTER SEASON BELOW NORMAL WITH ONE MONTH LEFT...

ALTHOUGH JANUARY HAD NORMAL TEMPERATURES...THE 2007-2008 WINTER
SEASON CONTINUED TO BE COOLER THAN NORMAL. THE JANUARY AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE OF 51.7 DEGREES WAS RIGHT AT NORMAL WITH THE EXTREMES
RANGING FROM A HIGH OF 73 DEGREES ON THE 4TH AND 5TH TO A LOW OF 28
DEGREES ON THE 18TH.

LAST 10 AVERAGE JANUARY TEMPERATURES...
2008 ... 51.7          2003 ... 58.1
2007 ... 48.6          2002 ... 51.8
2006 ... 54.5          2001 ... 49.7
2005 ... 54.4          2000 ... 55.0
2004 ... 52.9          1999 ... 53.6
1971-2000 NORMAL .... 51.7
TEN-YEAR AVERAGE .... 53.1

THE BIGGEST STORY OF THE MONTH WAS THE INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF RAIN THAT
FELL ON THE CATALINA AND RINCON MOUNTAINS ON THE 27TH AND 28TH. PRIOR
TO THIS EVENT...SEVERAL STORM SYSTEMS MOVED THROUGH THE AREA AND
PRODUCED SCATTERED RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW SHOWERS.

THE LAST FULL WEEKEND OF THE MONTH SAW A STRONG WEATHER SYSTEM OFF
THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COAST TAP INTO SUB-TROPICAL MOISTURE AND
SPREAD IT NORTH ACROSS THE STATE. STRONG WINDS ABOVE THE SURFACE
SLAMMED INTO THE MOUNTAINS AND PRODUCED UPSLOPE CONDITIONS THAT
ENHANCED RAINFALL AMOUNTS ON THEM. AUTOMATED RAIN GAGES ON THE
CATALINA MOUNTAINS RECORDED BETWEEN SIX AND EIGHT INCHES OF
RAIN...WHILE TWO TO FOUR INCHES WAS RECORDED ON THE RINCON MOUNTAINS.
THIS LED TO SIGNIFICANT RUNOFF INTO THE CREEKS AND WASHES THAT DRAIN
FROM THESE RANGES. ON THE VALLEY FLOOR...AMOUNTS RANGED FROM LESS
THAN A TENTH OF AN INCH TO OVER AN INCH...WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS
NEAR THE MOUNTAINS. THE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS ONE OF THE DRIER
SPOTS ACROSS THE METRO AREA AS ONLY FOUR-HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH
/0.04"/ WAS RECORDED.

FOR THE MONTH...RAINFALL AT THE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS LESS THAN
TWO-TENTHS /0.17"/ OF AN INCH AND RANKS AS THE 27TH DRIEST (TIED WITH
1998) ON RECORD. HOWEVER...THE AIRPORT WAS NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE
AMOUNT OF RAIN THAT FELL ON THE VALLEY FLOOR ACROSS THE METRO AREA.
GAGES ACROSS THE AREA RECORDED BETWEEN A QUARTER OF AN INCH /0.25"/
TO AN INCH OF RAIN WITH UP TO TWO INCHES BEING RECORDED IN A FEW
SPOTS IN THE FOOTHILLS. UP TO A FOOT OF RAIN WAS RECORDED ON THE
CATALINA MOUNTAINS.

LAST 10 JANUARY RAINFALL TOTALS AT TIA...
2008 ... 0.17"         2003 ... 0.08"
2007 ... 0.71"         2002 ... 0.34"
2006 ... TRACE         2001 ... 1.24"
2005 ... 1.35"         2000 ... 0.10"
2004 ... 0.79"         1999 ... 0.01"
1971-2000 NORMAL .... 0.99"
TEN-YEAR AVERAGE .... 0.48" OR A 5.11" TEN-YEAR DEFICIT FOR JANUARY

...JANUARY 2008 STATS...       MONTH     NORMAL     DEPARTURE 
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE        63.6      64.5        - 0.9
AVERAGE LOW  TEMPERATURE        39.8      38.9        + 0.9
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE             51.7      51.7          0.0 
RAINFALL                        0.17"     0.99"      - 0.82"
2007-87 WATER YEAR (OCT-JAN)    1.75"     3.90"      - 2.15"

JANUARY 2008 CLIMATE DATA ACROSS THE TUCSON METRO AREA...

                       AVG    AVG  AVG           MAX TEMP  MIN TEMP
                       HIGH   LOW  TEMP  PRECIP    DATE      DATE
TUCSON INTNL APRT      63.6  39.8  51.7   0.17"   73/4TH   28/ 5TH*
UNIV. OF ARIZONA       63.3  41.7  52.5   0.77"   73/4TH*  30/18TH
GREEN VALLEY           63.8  37.1  50.5   0.29"   73/5TH   26/20TH*
DAVIS MONTHAN AFB      61.9  40.0  51.0    MSG    72/5TH*  28/18TH
DESERT MUSEUM          62.1  39.8  51.0   0.79"   73/4TH   27/18TH
CATALINA STATE PARK**  63.9  31.6  47.8   0.87"   73/5TH   20/18TH
* LAST OF SEVERAL OCCURRENCES
** CATALINA STATE PARK MISSING A FEW DAYS OF DATA

THE CURRENT 2007-2008 WATER YEAR ONCE AGAIN IS STARTING OFF DRY. THIS
MARKS THE 7TH STRAIGHT WATER YEAR THAT BELOW NORMAL RAIN OCCURRED
DURING THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS. HOWEVER...THE AIRPORT IS THE DRIEST
SPOT ACROSS THE METRO AREA DURING THIS CURRENT WATER YEAR. AMOUNTS
ARE GENERALLY IN THE TWO TO FIVE INCH RANGE WITH ONE TO TWO FEET IN
THE CATALINA MOUNTAINS.

LAST 10 WATER YEAR (OCT-JAN) RAINFALL TOTALS AT TIA...
2007-2008 ... 1.75"         2002-2003 ... 1.45"
2006-2007 ... 1.60"         2001-2002 ... 1.68"
2005-2006 ... 0.32"         2000-2001 ... 7.59"
2004-2005 ... 3.12"         1999-2000 ... 0.10"
2003-2004 ... 2.36"         1998-1999 ... 1.37"
1971-2000 WATER YEAR
 NORMAL (OCT-JAN) ... 3.90"
TEN-YEAR AVERAGE  ... 2.13" OR A 17.66" TEN-YEAR DEFICIT

DROUGHT IMPACTS FOR EASTERN PIMA COUNTY...
SHORT TERM ... NONE
LONG TERM .... LARGE MULTI-YEAR DEFICITS

2007-2008 WINTER...
THE 2007-2008 WINTER RAINFALL AT THE AIRPORT DURING THE FIRST TWO
MONTHS OF THE THREE MONTH SEASON WOULD INDICATE THAT IT HAS BEEN A
DRY ONE. HOWEVER...THE AIRPORT RAINFALL TOTAL OF JUST UNDER AN INCH
IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE AMOUNT OF RAIN THAT HAS FALLEN ACROSS
THE METRO AREA IN THE PAST TWO MONTHS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS FOR
CENTRAL/WEST TUCSON...MARANA AND ORO VALLEY RANGED BETWEEN ONE TO
TWO INCHES. HIGHER AMOUNTS OF TWO TO FOUR INCHES WERE RECORDED IN
THE FOOTHILLS. GAGES ON THE CATALINA AND RINCON MOUNTAINS RECORDED
BETWEEN EIGHT AND SEVENTEEN INCHES OF PRECIPITATION...WITH MOUNT
LEMMON RECORDING THE HIGHEST AMOUNT 16.46". WITH ONE MONTH LEFT IN
THE 2007-2008 WINTER SEASON...THE AIRPORT NEEDS TO RECORD JUST OVER
TWO INCHES OF RAIN DURING FEBRUARY FOR THE SEASON TO BE CONSIDERED
NORMAL. LOOKING BACK AT HISTORICAL FEBRUARY RAINFALL TOTALS...ONLY
NINE FEBRUARYS (8% OF THEM) RECORDED TWO OR MORE INCHES.

THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 50.5 DEGREES FOR THE 2007-2008 WINTER
SEASON CURRENTLY RANKS AS THE 38TH COLDEST ON RECORD. BACK IN
NOVEMBER 2007...THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER (CPC) FORECAST A 60%
CHANCE THAT TUCSON WOULD HAVE ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES. FOR THIS
FORECAST TO VERIFY...FEBRUARY WOULD NEED TO RECORD AN AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE OF 57.6 DEGREES OR BETTER. THE HISTORICAL FEBRUARY
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE RECORDS SHOW THAT THIS HAS ONLY OCCURRED 13 TIMES
(11% OF THEM). ON THE FLIP SIDE...THE CPC WINTER FORECAST ALSO
INDICATED THERE WAS A 13% CHANCE THAT THE 2007-2008 WINTER SEASON
WOULD HAVE BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES.

... LOOKING AHEAD INTO FEBRUARY ...
THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER PREDICTS AN EQUAL CHANCE OF HAVING
EITHER BELOW...NORMAL...OR ABOVE TEMPERATURES AND ENHANCED
PROBABILITIES OF BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION.

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 27 MINUTES ON THE 28TH...A GAIN OF 48
MINUTES.

GLUECK