Mother Nature rained herself right into the Tucson record books Friday, breaking a Dec. 22 precipitation total not seen since the early 1900s.
Rain fell from sunrise to sunset, totaling 1.25 inches, beating out Dec. 22, 1914’s total of 1.01 inches.
“That’s a lot of rain for wintertime,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist Gary Zell. “Obviously, it wouldn’t break any summertime record. We could get that in 30 minutes.”
Zell said the good news is the rain and the clouds will likely part ways by Christmas Eve Sunday, leaving sunny skies and mild temps in their wake.
A slight chance of rain exists Sunday morning, but skies will clear and temps will reach a high of 60 degrees with a low of 35 degrees.
Christmas Day will be dry, Zell said, with sunny conditions and a high of 62 degrees. Low temps will reach the high 30s.
“We’re starting off on Christmas three to four degrees below normal,” Zell said. “By late next week, we’ll be three to four degrees above normal.”
Normal for Tucson at this time of year is 64 degrees. Thursday and Friday will reach nearly 70 degrees.
Those heading up Mount Lemmon for some winter land fun might want to wait.
The mountain accumulated less than an inch of snow, and with this weather system moving out of Tucson by Sunday afternoon, snow seekers will have to wait for the next storm front before building any snowmen.
