Phoenix Dry Spell: 100 Straight Days With No Rain
UPDATE Dec. 5, 2017 — The dry spell ended today as Sky Harbor Airport received 0.07 inches of rain (scattered showers dropped traces in many North Phoenix locations, too). The dry streak was 103 days, the 20th longest on record. The article below remains as originally written.
Phoenix yesterday had its 100th straight day without rain, at least at Sky Harbor, the region’s official measuring station. The last drops fell Aug. 23, according to the National Weather Service.
Most of North Phoenix has also been bone dry, but due to the spotty nature of the monsoon, there were a few raindrops over the past 100 days: Stray showers dropped 0.08 inches of precipitation into a gauge between Anthem and New River, 0.12 inches in another gauge near Anthem, and 0.39 inches in Norterra, according to the Maricopa County Flood Control District.
No rain is expected the next 12 days, and after a record-setting warm November, temperatures will moderate.
“Although we will not be seeing any rain in the Phoenix area early next week, we will see cooler temps,” the NWS Phoenix office tweeted this morning. “By next Tuesday we should finally drop into the 60s and see highs very close to normal. It will warm back up though by the middle of next week.”
The all-time record rain-free days in Phoenix is 160, set in 1972.
The weather service expects La Nina conditions this winter, which would tend to bring drier-than-normal conditions to the Southwest into early next year.
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