New cooling center set to open Monday on Tucson's west side

Tucson’s newest cooling center is set to open Monday on the west side, officials say.

The cooling center at the Mission Annex facility at 1801 S. Mission Road near West Silverlake Road, will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends, according to a Pima County news release.

“Based on the geography and demographics of the area, the opening of this facility broadens the network of Cooling Centers across Pima County,” Jen Darland, the director of Pima County’s Office of Housing Opportunities and Homeless Solutions, said in the news release.

“This is an area in which there is more-limited access to resources and a higher frequency of mobile home units, where residents have a higher-risk of indoor heat-related illness or death.”

The center will be in an air-conditioned building and stocked with water and chairs and staffing will include individuals from numerous county departments, making the seven-day-week functioning possible, the release said.

Residents can visit the Beat the Heat and Cooling Centers pages on the county website to get more information on locations and timings of different cooling centers across the Tucson metro area.

The opening comes as the area has recently had especially hot days.

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On Sunday, the National Weather Service in Tucson issued a heat risk warning that included the Tucson area and western Pima County. The temperature in Tucson Sunday was 106 degrees and 107 degrees in Marana.

Meanwhile, it was 112 degrees in Phoenix and 113 degrees in Gila Bend.

“Heat risk takes into (consideration) a lot of factors like urbanization and where vulnerable communities are, and currently, we’re in the moderate category for most of southeast Arizona,” said Julia Tetrault, a meteorologist with the weather service here. “It’s on the fringes of what we would consider (to) issue an excessive heat warning. So, we’re 5 to almost 10 degrees above normal, but not to the effect that it’ll affect most people.”

Expected high temperatures for the rest of the week across Tucson are 107 degrees on Monday, 104 degrees on Tuesday, 99 degrees on Wednesday and 100 degrees on Thursday, according to the weather service forecast.

Monday and Tuesday are expected to see a “stronger monsoonal pattern” with “flash flooding and blowing dust potential.”

The rest of the week should also see general thunderstorm and flash flooding potential, the forecast shows. Chances of rain here are 20% for Monday, increasing to 40% on Tuesday and Wednesday, before reducing on Thursday.