A month of sun-days: February temps mean record-breaking stretch

Temperatures in Tucson are breaking records as a high-pressure system keeps rain and cooler temperatures north of the area.

On Tuesday, Tucson saw the ninth straight day of above-80 degree temperatures, beating the record for February set during a seven-day stretch in 1989 and matched in 1995, according to the National Weather Service in Tucson.

Tuesday also marked the fourth day so far in February that beat single-day high records, the weather service said.

The 87 degrees recorded Tuesday afternoon at Tucson International Airport surpassed the previous record high of 85 degrees set in 1994 and matched in 2014.

The 81 degrees recorded on Feb. 8 beat the record set in 1930 and matched in 1963, 2000, and 2006. The 85 degrees on Feb. 11 beat the 84 degrees recorded in 1951, while the 87 degrees on Feb. 12 rose above the 86-degree record from 1988.

The high temperature for Wednesday, Feb. 17, is projected to be 90 degrees, which would make it the second-earliest 90-degree day on record after Feb. 14, 1957, the weather service said.

The normal high temperature this time of year is about 68 degrees.

The culprit? A high-pressure ridge centered in the middle level of the atmosphere off the coast of California.

The abnormally strong and persistent ridge is pushing rainfall and cooler air north into Oregon and Washington and away from Arizona, California, Nevada, and western New Mexico, the weather service said.

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The high-pressure ridge should break down a little Thursday, dropping temperatures to the low 80s. Tucson will see a 10 percent chance of rain on Friday and a 20 percent chance at higher elevations, the weather service said.

Rain and cooler temperatures this time of year normally are funneled into the Southwestern states, but the ridge is sucking the rain up through the Great Basin and farther north, said Ben McMahan, research scientist at the University of Arizona’s Climate Assessment for the Southwest.

The warm weather is great, but “it’s nice to have a winter,” he said.

A run of warm weather was not unexpected, given that El Niño includes warm stretches interspersed with cooler, rainier days, McMahan said.

What is unexpected is how long the stretch of warm weather has lasted, he said.

“It’s a little disappointing,” he said. “I thought we would have seen more rain, frankly.”

The current El Niño — a cyclical weather event caused by warming waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean — was predicted to be one of the most powerful on record.

The key times for El Niño rains are January to March, and “the question is whether more rain systems will come in,” he said.

So far, the strong systems seen during the record-setting 1997-1998 El Niño have not shown up, he said, “but the season isn’t over.”