...MARCH HIGHLIGHTS...
...BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND RAINFALL...
...DRIEST SEPTEMBER TO MARCH PERIOD ON RECORD...
...3RD DRIEST 7 MONTH PERIOD ON RECORD...

THE VERY DRY PATTERN OF WINTER 2005-2006 CAME TO SOMEWHAT OF AN END
DURING MARCH AS IT WAS MUCH STORMIER THAN THE PREVIOUS SIX MONTHS
COMBINED. EVEN WITH A STORMIER MARCH...PRECIPITATION TOTALS WERE
STILL BELOW NORMAL WHICH RESULTED IN TUCSON RECORDING THE DRIEST
SEPTEMBER TO MARCH PERIOD ON RECORD (SHATTERING THE OLD RECORD BY
OVER ONE INCH) AND ALSO RECORDING THE THIRD LOWEST SEVEN MONTH
PRECIPITATION TOTAL ON RECORD.

THE FIRST WEEK OF MARCH STARTED OFF DRY AS HIGH PRESSURE KEPT ANY
STORMS AWAY FROM THE AREA. DURING THE SECOND WEEK OF THE MONTH THE
WEATHER PATTERN FINALLY SHIFTED WHICH ALLOWED PACIFIC STORMS SYSTEM
TO AFFECT ARIZONA WITH BETTER CHANCES OF VALLEY RAINS AND MOUNTAIN
SNOWS. THIS PATTERN CONTINUED THROUGH THE END OF THE MONTH.

THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT STORM OF THE MONTH HIT THE AREA ON THE 11TH AND
12TH AND BROUGHT WIDESPREAD VALLEY RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW SHOWERS.
THIS ENDED THE 14TH LONGEST CONSECUTIVE DAY STRETCH OF NO MEASURABLE
RAIN AT 88 DAYS. VALLEY RAINFALL TOTALS RANGED FROM A QUARTER TO A
HALF AN INCH WHILE THE MOUNTAINS RECORDED OVER A FOOT OF SNOW. SNOW
LEVELS WERE DOWN TO ABOUT 4000 FEET WITH SNOW COVERING THE TIPS OF
THE TUCSON AND TORTOLITA MOUNTAINS. HIGH PRESSURE BUILT OVER THE AREA
BETWEEN THE 14TH AND 17TH BEFORE THE SECOND STORM OF THE MONTH HIT ON
THE 19TH. THIS SYSTEM WAS NOT WET AS THE PREVIOUS ONE WITH NEW
SNOWFALL IN THE MOUNTAINS OF A HALF A FOOT BEING RECORDED. ALTHOUGH
THE STORM WAS NOT A WET...IT WAS COLDER WITH SNOW LEVELS DOWN TO
ABOUT 3000 FEET WITH SNOW BEING REPORTED IN THE FOOTHILLS. THE HIGH
TEMPERATURES AT THE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ON THE 19TH (50 DEGREES)
AND 20TH (58 DEGREES) SET DAILY RECORD LOW MAXIMUM READINGS. IN
FACT...THE 50 DEGREES ON THE 19TH WAS THE 14TH COLDEST (TIED WITH
9 OTHER MARCH DAYS) HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDED DURING MARCH IN TUCSON.
HIGH PRESSURE ONCE AGAIN REBUILT OVER THE AREA BEFORE A WEAKER STORM
MOVED THROUGH ON THE 28TH A BROUGHT A LITTLE LIGHT RAIN TO THE AREA.

OVERALL...THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 58.7 DEGREES WAS ABOUT A
HALF A DEGREE BELOW NORMAL. TEMPERATURE EXTREMES FOR THE MONTH RANGED
FROM A HIGH OF 83 DEGREES ON THE 25TH AND 31ST TO A LOW OF 32 DEGREES
ON THE 13TH. THE AVERAGE LAST FREEZE DATE IS MARCH 5TH.

...MARCH 2006 STATS...         MONTH     NORMAL     DEPARTURE
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE        71.6      73.3        - 1.7
AVERAGE LOW  TEMPERATURE        45.8      45.1        + 0.7
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE             58.7      59.2        - 0.5
RAINFALL                        0.41"     0.81"      - 0.40"

RAINFALL AMOUNTS ACROSS THE METRO AREA DURING MARCH RANGED FROM
A THIRD OF AN INCH TO SLIGHTLY OVER AN INCH. HIGHER AMOUNTS WERE
RECORDED IN THE SURROUNDING MOUNTAINS. OFFICIALLY THE AIRPORT
RECORDED SLIGHTLY OVER FOUR TENTHS OF AN INCH /0.41"/ WHICH IS
FOUR TENTHS OF AN INCH BELOW NORMAL. RAINFALL AT THE AIRPORT SINCE
SEPTEMBER 1, 2005 HAS BEEN SLIGHTLY BELOW EIGHT-TENTHS OF AN INCH
/0.79"/ WHICH RANKS AS THE DRIEST SEPTEMBER TO MARCH PERIOD ON
RECORD.

TOP 5 DRIEST SEPTEMBER TO MARCH PERIODS ON RECORD:
1) 0.78" 2005-2006
2) 1.87" 1924-1925
3) 1.95" 1973-1974
4) 2.19" 1999-2000
5) 2.25" 1955-1956

THIS SEVEN MONTH TOTAL ALSO RANKS AS THE 2ND DRIEST (TIED) SEVEN
MONTH PERIOD ON RECORD.

TOP 5 DRIEST ANY SEVEN MONTH PERIOD...
1) 0.32" DEC. 1958 TO JUNE 1959
2) 0.78" SEP. 2005 TO MAR. 2006 **
   0.78" JAN. 1895 TO JULY 1895
4) 0.91" JAN. 1947 TO JULY 1947
5) 1.08" OCT. 1903 TO APR. 1904

...2006 STATS THRU MARCH...     YEAR     NORMAL     DEPARTURE
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE        71.4      68.7        + 2.7
AVERAGE LOW  TEMPERATURE        42.9      41.8        + 1.1
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE             57.1      55.3        + 1.8
RAINFALL                        0.41"     2.68"      - 2.21"
WATER YEAR RAINFALL (OCT-MAR)   0.73"     5.59"      - 4.86"

...LOOKING AHEAD INTO APRIL...
THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER FORECASTS THAT THE MONTH OF APRIL
WILL HAVE EQUAL PROBABILITIES OF EITHER BEING BELOW NORMAL...NORMAL
OR ABOVE NORMAL FOR TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION.

APRIL STATISTICS...
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE ......... 81.5 DEGREES
AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE .......... 50.5 DEGREES
AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE ...... 66.0 DEGREES
RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE .......... 104 DEGREES ON APRIL 20 & 21 1989
RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE ........... 27 DEGREES ON APRIL 4 1945
WARMEST APRIL (AVG) .............. 73.8 DEGREES IN 1989
COLDEST APRIL (AVG) .............. 57.8 DEGREES IN 1975
NORMAL RAINFALL .................. 0.28 INCHES
WETTEST APRIL DAY ................ 1.17 INCHES ON APRIL 1 1999
WETTEST APRIL .................... 3.53 INCHES IN 1905
DRIEST APRIL ..................... 0.00 INCHES IN 2002
                                    (LAST OF 11 OCCURRENCES)

THE NUMBER OF DAYLIGHT HOURS WILL INCREASE FROM 12 HOURS 32 MINUTES
ON THE 1ST TO 13 HOURS 26 MINUTES ON THE 30TH...A GAIN OF 54 MINUTES.

GLUECK