May 2007 climate report for Tucson

...MAY AND SPRING SEASON HIGHLIGHTS...
...9TH WARMEST AND 41ST WETTEST MAY ON RECORD...
...MAGICAL FIRST CENTURY HIGH OCCURS ON THE 11TH...
...5TH WARMEST SPRING ON RECORD...

THE MONTH BEGAN WITH DRY WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT RESULTING IN ABOVE
NORMAL TEMPERATURES. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL TROUGH MOVED THE WESTERN
UNITED STATES BETWEEN THE 5TH AND 9TH...RESULTING IN BELOW NORMAL
DAYTIME TEMPERATURES...AND BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS. STRONG HIGH
PRESSURE BUILT OVER THE AREA FROM THE EASTERN PACIFIC BETWEEN THE
10TH AND 15TH...RESULTING IN THE WARMEST TEMPERATURES OF THE MONTH.
THE SANTA CRUZ ICE OFFICIALLY BROKE AT 1:44 PM MST ON MAY 11TH WITH
THE FIRST 100 DEGREE READING OF THE YEAR. THIS MARKED THE 11TH
EARLIEST OCCURRENCE (TIED WITH 1996/1993/1988/1960) ON RECORD. THE
AVERAGE FIRST 100 DEGREE DAY DATE IS MAY 26TH.

HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WEAKENED A BIT AFTER THE 13TH AS SOME MOISTURE
MOVED IN FROM NEW MEXICO. THIS LED TO ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS ON THE 16TH...SOME OF WHICH HAD PEA SIZE HAIL AND
BRIEF HEAVY RAIN. RAINFALL TOTALS WERE VERY SPOTTY WITH SOME AMOUNTS
IN THE QUARTER TO HALF INCH RANGE. OFFICIALLY AT THE AIRPORT...
FOURTEEN HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH WAS RECORDED...WHICH SET A DAILY
RECORD FOR THE 16TH. THE OLD RECORD WAS 0.12" SET IN 1989.

THE REMAINDER OF THE MONTH WAS DRY WITH TEMPERATURES AT OR SLIGHTLY
ABOVE NORMAL. OFFICIALLY...MAY 2007 WILL GO INTO THE RECORD BOOKS AS
THE 9TH WARMEST (TIED WITH 1993) ON RECORD WITH AN AVERAGE MONTHLY
TEMPERATURE OF 78.1 DEGREES...WHICH IS 3.6 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.
TEMPERATURE EXTREMES FOR THE MONTH RANGED FROM A HIGH OF 103 DEGREES
ON THE 12TH TO A LOW OF 50 DEGREES ON THE 7TH.

TOP 10 WARMEST MAYS ON RECORD...
1) 80.2 IN 2000         6) 79.0 IN 2006
2) 79.9 IN 1984            79.0 IN 1996
3) 79.7 IN 1997         8) 78.3 IN 1934
4) 79.3 IN 2001         9) 78.1 IN 2007 **
5) 79.1 IN 1958            78.1 IN 1993

RAINFALL ACROSS THE METRO AREA VARIED WIDELY DURING MAY WITH LOCAL
AREAS RECORDING UP TO A HALF AN INCH. OFFICIALLY THE INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT RECORDED FOURTEEN HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH /0.14"/ WHICH IS A
TENTH OF AN INCH BELOW NORMAL. HOWEVER...EVEN THOUGH THE MONTH WAS
BELOW NORMAL THE MONTHLY TOTAL RANKED AS THE 41ST WETTEST MAY ON
RECORD. 

...MAY 2007 STATS...           MONTH     NORMAL     DEPARTURE
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE        93.3      90.4        + 2.9
AVERAGE LOW  TEMPERATURE        62.8      58.6        + 4.2
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE             78.1      74.5        + 3.6
NUMBER OF 100+ DEGREE HIGHS       3         3            0
RAINFALL                        0.14"     0.24"      - 0.10"

THE 2007 SPRING SEASON (MARCH THROUGH MAY) WAS THE 5TH WARMEST ON
RECORD (TIED WITH 1986) WITH AN AVERAGE SPRING TEMPERATURE OF 69.9
DEGREES.

...SPRING 2007 STATS...        SEASON    NORMAL     DEPARTURE
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE        85.0      81.7        + 3.3
AVERAGE LOW  TEMPERATURE        54.8      51.4        + 3.4
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE             69.9      66.6        + 3.3
RAINFALL                        0.88"     1.33"      - 0.45"

THE CURRENT 2006-2007 WATER YEAR (OCTOBER 1ST TO MAY 31ST) RAINFALL
TOTAL OF 2.52 INCHES RANKS AS THE 15TH DRIEST TO DATE ON RECORD. THE
DRIEST TO DATE IS 0.73 INCHES WHICH OCCURRED DURING THE 2005-2006
WATER YEAR.

WATER YEAR (OCT-MAY) RAINFALL TOTALS SINCE 1995 (NORMAL IS 6.11")...
2006-2007 ..... 2.52"     2000-2001 ..... 10.01"
2005-2006 ..... 0.73"     1999-2000 .....  1.22"
2004-2005 ..... 5.72"     1998-1999 .....  2.71"
2003-2004 ..... 4.99"     1997-1998 .....  9.15"
2002-2003 ..... 3.15"     1996-1997 .....  4.46"
2001-2002 ..... 2.02"     1995-1996 .....  2.58"

...2007 STATS THRU MAY...       YEAR     NORMAL     DEPARTURE
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE        77.2      75.7        + 1.5
AVERAGE LOW  TEMPERATURE        48.5      47.0        + 1.5
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE             62.8      61.3        + 1.5
NUMBER OF 100+ DEGREE HIGHS       3         3            0
RAINFALL                        1.63"     3.20"      - 1.57"
WATER YEAR RAINFALL (OCT-MAY)   2.52"     6.11"      - 3.59"

THE AVERAGE YEARLY TEMPERATURE THROUGH MAY 31ST OF 62.8 DEGREES RANKS
AS THE 18TH WARMEST START TO A CALENDAR YEAR. THE YEAR-TO-DATE RECORD
IS 65.2 DEGREES FROM 1986. THE AVERAGE YEARLY LOW TEMPERATURE THROUGH
MAY 31ST OF 48.5 DEGREES RANKS AS THE 17TH WARMEST ON RECORD. THE
YEAR-TO-DATE RECORD IS 50.4 DEGREES FROM 2005. RAINFALL FOR 2007
THROUGH MAY 31ST OF 1.63 INCHES RANKS AS THE 26TH DRIEST START TO A
CALENDAR YEAR ON RECORD. THE YEAR-TO-DATE RECORD IS 0.25 INCHES FROM
1972.

...LOOKING AHEAD INTO JUNE AND THE SUMMER SEASON...
THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER FORECASTS THAT THE MONTH OF JUNE WILL
HAVE ENHANCED PROBABILITIES FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND EQUAL
CHANCES FOR EITHER ABOVE NORMAL...NORMAL...OR BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL.
THE FORECAST FOR SUMMER 2007 (JUNE THROUGH AUGUST) CALLS FOR ENHANCED
PROBABILITIES FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND EQUAL CHANCES FOR
EITHER ABOVE NORMAL...NORMAL...OR BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL.

JUNE NORMALS AND RECORDS...
AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE .........100.2 DEGREES
AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE .......... 68.0 DEGREES
AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE ...... 84.1 DEGREES
RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE .......... 117 DEGREES ON JUNE 26 1990
RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE ...........  43 DEGREES ON JUNE  4 1908
WARMEST JUNE (AVG) ............... 89.2 DEGREES IN 1994
COLDEST JUNE (AVG) ............... 77.6 DEGREES IN 1965
NORMAL RAINFALL .................. 0.24 INCHES
WETTEST JUNE DAY ................. 1.56 INCHES ON JUNE 28 1938
WETTEST JUNE...................... 2.07 INCHES IN 1938
DRIEST JUNE ...................... 0.00 INCHES IN 2002
                                        (LAST OF 13 OCCURRENCES)

SUMMER SEASON NORMALS AND RECORDS (JUNE THRU AUGUST)...
NORMAL HIGH TEMPERATURE ......... 99.1 DEGREES
NORMAL LOW TEMPERATURE .......... 71.3 DEGREES
NORMAL SEASONAL TEMPERATURE ..... 85.2 DEGREES
WARMEST SUMMER (AVG) ............ 89.9 DEGREES IN 1994
COLDEST SUMMER (AVG) ............ 81.3 DEGREES IN 1923
NORMAL SUMMER RAINFALL ..........  4.61 INCHES
WETTEST SUMMER .................. 13.06 INCHES IN 1955
DRIEST SUMMER ...................  0.81 INCH   IN 1926

THE NUMBER OF DAYLIGHT HOURS WILL INCREASE FROM 14 HOURS 7 MINUTES ON
THE FIRST TO 14 HOURS 14 MINUTES ON THE 30TH...A GAIN OF 7 MINUTES.
ASTRONOMICAL SUMMER WILL BEGIN ON JUNE 21ST AT 11:06 AM WHEN THE SUN
REACHES THE NORTHERN MOST LATITUDE PART OF THE EARTH (23.4 DEGREES
NORTH OR THE TROPIC OF CANCER).

GLUECK