Yes, June was hot, but it could have been worse.
The month was more than 2 degrees above the average temperature of 84.7.
Tucson reached a monthly high of 107 degrees on June 8 and logged a total of 13 days of 100 degrees or higher this month, according to the National Weather Service.
This is nothing compared to last year, however, when high temps climbed above 109 degrees six times, earning June 2017 the title of hottest June on record here.
Luckily, June 2018 was surprisingly wet.
A hurricane-induced spat of rain June 15-16 cooled things off to 90 and 81 degrees, respectively. The temperature June 16 dropped 12 degrees below the norm.
In the two-day window, 0.91 of an inch of rain fell, making this month the seventh wettest June on record. But June is usually so bone-dry that any rain makes a big difference — typically only 0.15 of an inch falls this time of year.
Monsoon season officially started June 15, so the rainfall made it just in time to be added to the season total. The season officially ends Sept. 30.
Before 2008, however, the monsoon season start was determined by three days of average daily dew point temps at or above 54 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Tucson.
According to this definition, typical monsoon activity is yet to come.
What brought the rain to town was remnants of Hurricane Bud, which narrowly made it into the Gulf of California.
“It just had the perfect track,” said Gary Zell, meteorologist with NWS Tucson. “Bud was an anomaly for June.”
Rain rolled into parts of Arizona east of Tucson on Friday evening, but we weren’t so lucky. Tucson is expected to be sunny and dry through the July 4th holiday.
Monsoon storms, which are caused by the seasonal shift in winds, are on the horizon for Tucson.
“We’re looking at an increase in activity mid to late next week, for Tucson,” Zell said. Rain hasn’t made it out here just yet because of lingering dry air to the west, “and the flow isn’t quite right yet.”
About 80 percent of monsoon storms start in the week before July 3rd and the week following, Zell said.
So keep your fingers crossed.
