March 2007 climate report for Tucson

...MARCH HIGHLIGHTS...
...7TH WARMEST MARCH (TIED WITH 1910) ON RECORD...
...8TH WARMEST MARCH AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE ON RECORD...
...4TH AND 7TH WARMEST MARCH DAYS ON RECORD...
...49TH WETTEST MARCH ON RECORD...

THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER SPRING FORECAST FOR SOUTHEAST ARIZONA
CALLED FROM MUCH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL.
MARCH 2007 HAS STARTED THIS 3 MONTH FORECAST ON THE RIGHT TRACK WITH
THE 7TH WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD AND BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL. 

THE MONTH STARTED OFF WITH WELL BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES WITH DAILY
AVERAGE TEMPERATURES BEING 8 TO 11 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL THROUGH THE
4TH. DAILY TEMPERATURES QUICKLY WARMED TO WELL ABOVE NORMAL AS STRONG
HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT SETTLED OVER THE DESERT SOUTHWEST. DAILY AVERAGE
TEMPERATURES RANGED FROM 7 TO 19 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL BETWEEN THE 5TH
AND 21ST. A MINI EARLY SPRING HEAT WAVE SETTLED OVER THE AREA BETWEEN
THE 15TH AND 19TH WITH DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURES RANGING BETWEEN 87 AND
95 DEGREES. RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES WERE SET OR TIED ON THE
FOLLOWING DATES:

DATE   HIGH  OLD RECORD
14TH    87     87/1934
16TH    95     90/1994
17TH    94     88/1994

THE HIGH OF 95 DEGREES ON THE 16TH RANKS AS THE 4TH WARMEST MARCH DAY
ON RECORD (TIED WITH MARCH 18TH AND 19TH IN 1907) WHILE THE HIGH OF
94 DEGREES ON THE 17TH RANKS AS THE 7TH WARMEST MARCH DAY ON RECORD
(TIED WITH MARCH 27 1988 AND MARCH 25 1896). THE AVERAGE FIRST DAY
FOR RECORDING A HIGH OF 95 DEGREES OR BETTER IN MAY 3RD...SO WE HIT
THIS MARK SEVEN WEEKS EARLY.

SOME MOISTURE IN THE MID TO UPPER LEVELS MOVED ACROSS THE AREA ON THE
17TH AND PRODUCED AREAS OF VIRGA. DUE TO THE DRY NATURE OF THE LOW
LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE...NO RAIN FELL TO THE GROUND...BUT THEY DID
PRODUCE LOCALLY STRONG GUSTY WINDS. ON THE EVENING OF THE 17TH SEVEN
POWER POLES WERE BROUGHT DOWN NORTH OF RITA RANCH WHICH RESULTED IN
THE LOSS OF POWER TO AROUND 2500 STRUCTURES.

A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER PATTERN TOOK PLACE BETWEEN THE 21ST AND 24TH
AS A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM DEVELOPED OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
THIS SYSTEM BROUGHT THE FIRST WIDESPREAD RAIN EVENT TO THE AREA SINCE
MID JANUARY. DUE TO THE WARM NATURE OF THE STORM...THE SNOW LEVEL WAS
RATHER HIGH WITH MOUNT LEMMON RECORDING BETWEEN 6 TO 10 INCHES. THE
STRONGEST STORMS OCCURRED ON THE 22ND WITH PEA TO DIME SIZE HAIL
BEING RECORDED ACROSS THE METRO AREA. THE HIGH TEMPERATURES ON
SATURDAY THE 23RD (62) WAS 33 DEGREES COOLER THAN THE PREVIOUS
SATURDAY (95).

WEAK HIGH PRESSURE BUILT OVER THE AREA FROM THE 25TH THROUGH THE 27TH
RESULTING IN A WARMING TREND BEFORE A STRONG DRY COLD FRONT MOVED
ACROSS THE AREA ON THE 28TH...WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES 20 TO 25 DEGREES
COOLER. THE MONTH ENDED WITH BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES.

OVERALL...THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 63.1 DEGREES WAS JUST
UNDER FOUR DEGREES (3.9) ABOVE NORMAL AND RANKS AS THE 7TH WARMEST
MARCH (TIED WITH 1910) ON RECORD. THE AVERAGE MONTHLY HIGH
TEMPERATURE OF 78.3 DEGREES WAS FIVE DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AND RANKS
AS THE 8TH WARMEST (TIED WITH 1986/1911/1896) ON RECORD. TEMPERATURE
EXTREMES FOR THE MONTH RANGED FROM A RECORD HIGH OF 95 DEGREES ON THE
16TH TO A LOW OF 31 DEGREES ON THE 2ND. THE AVERAGE LAST FREEZE DATE
IS MARCH 5TH.

TOP 10 WARMEST MARCH'S...             LAST 10 MARCH'S...
 1) 66.7  2004                          2007 ... 63.1
 2) 65.0  1989                          2006 ... 58.7
    65.0  1972                          2005 ... 59.2
 4) 64.7  1997                          2004 ... 66.7
 5) 63.9  1934                          2003 ... 59.8
 6) 63.8  1986                          2002 ... 59.2
 7) 63.1  2007                          2001 ... 60.2
    63.1  1910                          2000 ... 58.8
 9) 62.8  1994                          1999 ... 61.4
10) 62.7  1911/1900                     1998 ... 57.9
                                     10 YR AVG.. 60.5

...MARCH 2007 STATS...         MONTH     NORMAL     DEPARTURE
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE        78.3      73.3        + 5.0
AVERAGE LOW  TEMPERATURE        47.8      45.1        + 2.7
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE             63.1      59.2        + 3.9
RAINFALL                        0.59"     0.81"      - 0.22"

RAINFALL AMOUNTS ACROSS THE METRO AREA DURING MARCH RANGED FROM 0.50"
TO SLIGHTLY OVER TWO INCHES. OFFICIALLY THE AIRPORT RECORDED SLIGHTLY
UNDER SIX TENTHS OF AN INCH /0.59"/ WHICH IS TWO-TENTHS OF AN INCH
BELOW NORMAL. EVEN THOUGH THE MARCH RAINFALL WAS BELOW NORMAL IT
RANKS AS THE 49TH WETTEST MARCH ON RECORD. GO FIGURE.

MARCH RAINFALL SINCE 1998...
2007 ... 0.59"          2002 ... 0.07"
2006 ... 0.41"          2001 ... 0.88"
2005 ... 0.37"          2000 ... 0.93"
2004 ... 1.13"          1999 ... TRACE
2003 ... 0.54"          1998 ... 1.64"
10 YR AVG ... 0.65" VERSUS 1971-200O NORMAL 0.81"

IT WAS WINDY AT TIMES DURING MARCH WITH FOUR DAYS RECORDING A PEAK
WIND GUST OF 40 MPH OR GREATER (43 MPH ON THE 11TH...41 MPH ON THE
5TH...41 MPH ON THE 21ST AND 40 MPH ON THE 27TH).

...2007 STATS THRU MARCH...     YEAR     NORMAL     DEPARTURE
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE        69.6      68.7        + 0.9
AVERAGE LOW  TEMPERATURE        41.8      41.8          0.0
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE             55.7      55.3        + 0.4
RAINFALL                        1.34"     2.68"      - 1.34"
WATER YEAR RAINFALL (OCT-MAR)   2.23"     5.59"      - 3.36"

THE 2006-2007 WATER YEAR IS AT THE HALF WAY MARK AND IS CURRENTLY
OVER THREE INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS RANKS AS THE 15TH DRIEST WATER
YEAR TO DATE. THIS TOTAL...HOWEVER...IS MUCH WETTER THAN WHAT
OCCURRED DURING THE 1ST HALF OF THE 2005-06 WATER YEAR IN WHICH ONLY
THREE-QUARTERS OF AN INCH /0.73"/ WAS RECORDED AT THE AIRPORT...WHICH
IS THE DRIEST ON RECORD.

LAST 10 WATER YEARS TO DATE (OCT. TO MAR.)
2006-2007 ..... 2.23"           2001-2002 ..... 2.02"
2005-2006 ..... 0.73"           2000-2001 ..... 8.93"
2004-2005 ..... 4.76"           1999-2000 ..... 1.22"
2003-2004 ..... 3.94"           1998-1999 ..... 1.37"
2002-2003 ..... 2.98"           1997-1998 ..... 8.76"
10 YR AVG ... 3.69" VERSUS 1971-2000 NORMAL 5.59"

THE AREA IS STILL GRIPPED IN LONG TREM DROUGHT CONDITIONS AND BASED
ON THE PAST 10 YEARS OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE WATER YEAR...THE TUCSON
AREA IS RUNNING A 19 INCH DEFICIT.

...LOOKING AHEAD INTO APRIL...
THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER FORECASTS THAT THE MONTH OF APRIL WILL
HAVE ENHANCED PROBABILITIES OF ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND BELOW
NORMAL 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 31 MINUTES
ON THE 1ST TO 13 HOURS 25 MINUTES ON THE 30TH...A GAIN OF 54 MINUTES.

GLUECK