Xavier Galligan eyes the football he’s about to catch while working on his skills with his cousin at Mansfield Park, 2000 N. Fourth Ave., on Wednesday. Tucson’s monsoon season officially starts June 15, but there’s no rain in sight to interfere with practice for the cousins, who are on the Flowing Wells High School football team.

 Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star

Welcome to the start of Tucson’s 2023 monsoon.

It’ll be a dry start.

Today, the official first day of the summer rainy season, will be sunny, with a high of about 97 degrees, the National Weather Service says.

And the forecast for the monsoon’s opening weekend calls for a return to higher, more typical June temperatures. Think triple digits.

Meteorologists say this is an El NiΓ±o year. They’re predicting a delay in the seasonal storm cycle across Southern Arizona, which could lead to a hotter and drier summer overall.

Though Tucson often doesn’t see its first storm activity until early July, the Southwest monsoon season officially begins on June 15 and lasts through September.

Between June 24 and July 7 this year, there is a 70% chance of below-normal precipitation, according to the Climate Prediction Center’s outlook.

The center also says Tucson can anticipate relatively normal temperatures for the rest of June and July, which means regular triple-digit highs.

The National Weather Service's 2023 monsoon outlook recaps last year's weather and provides what to expect this summer.

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