Tucson’s fall 2016 — defined by the meteorologists as September through November — was the warmest on record, with an average temperature of 74.1 degrees.
That beats the former record for the warmest fall in Tucson, which was 74 degrees in 1999, according to the National Weather Service.
Also, despite this week’s chill, last month was quite warm — the sixth-warmest November on record for Tucson, with an average temperature of 64 degrees.
November temperatures had threatened to top the record books until a Pacific weather system brought cold air, rain and mountain snow to the region on the last four days of the month, according to the monthly climate report compiled by John Glueck, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tucson.
Glueck said Tucson is on track to record its second-warmest year on record. To date, the area’s average is 73.6 degrees, just behind the 73.9-degree pace set in 2014.
This week’s cold weather, which briefly brought freezing temperatures to the region, will be moving out, with highs reaching the upper 60s by Sunday or Monday, said Chris Rasmussen of the weather service office in Tucson.
Rasmussen said another cold-air system will be “diving down in the middle of next week.”
Tucson recorded its first temperature below freezing when it hit 29 degrees on Wednesday around 6 a.m.
After a wetter-than-average summer, rainfall for the fall was 2.2 inches, which is 0.55 inches below normal, according to Glueck’s report.
The half-inch of rain that fell on the official gauge at Tucson International Airport in November was just shy of the normal 0.57 inches for the month.
Predictions for the three winter months are for warmer-than-normal temperatures and lower-than-normal precipitation, according to the Climate Prediction Center.
