Get your sunscreen and umbrella ready, because the heat is on for the next few days here in Tucson and Southern Arizona, according to the National Weather Service.
But winter weather fans can look forward to a cooldown by week’s end.
“High temperatures will be 10-15 degrees warmer than normal before cooling off again this weekend into next week,” the Tucson branch of the NWS tweeted early Tuesday morning. High temps are expected to be in the mid-80s Wednesday and Thursday, with lows in the high 40s in the evenings.
It’ll be so hot that Southern Arizona and Southern California are expected to top the nation as far as high temperatures are concerned this week.
However, by the end of the week, a winter weather system moving into the area should drag those temperatures back down into the low 70s and mid-60s, with winds ranging from 15-20 mph. While the winds shouldn’t last past the weekend, the slightly lower temps should persist through the beginning of next week.
“It’s not even really a cold front,” said Aaron Hardin, a meteorologist for NWS Tucson. “It’s like an upper level low-pressure system coming through, and it basically just brings in cooler air with it. Unfortunately, it won’t be bringing any rain.”
Which makes this first week of March almost a microcosm of the February the region just experienced.
According to NWS data, the Tucson area usually averages temps of 56.2 degrees with precipitation over eight-hundredths of an inch, but last month averaged 54.3 degrees and just over two-hundredths of an inch of rainfall.
That drier- and cooler-than-average outcome is still in the cards for March. The National Weather Prediction Center released its forecast for the spring, and the Tucson area has just as likely a chance to have an above- or below-average season of rainfall and high temps.
This time-lapse captured at the Mount Lemmon Fire Department shows a wintery scene north of Tucson on Feb. 24 following snow showers the day before. Video courtesy of Mt. Lemmon Fire Dept./Southern Arizona Timelapses.
