The first month of 2017 was average in temperature and slightly above average in rainfall in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s mountains, meanwhile, received a good dump of snow and the Great Basin states that provide the spring flow into reservoirs on the Colorado River got even more.
In ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, 1.18 inches of rain fell at ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ International Airport, about a quarter-inch better than normal. Across the valley, rain totals ranged from 0.75 inches to 4 inches, according to the monthly climate report compiled by John Glueck of the National Weather Service in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.
That followed a December total of 1.08 inches that was 0.15 inches above normal.
The temperatures averaged about normal at 52.9 degrees — but seesawed wildly from a low of 29 to a high of 81 as a series of winter storms hit the region, dropping mostly light rain on ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, but enough snow on Mount Lemmon to start the ski season (though it blew down the upper ski lift) and provide a picture-perfect backdrop for the desert floor, where wildflowers were beginning to pop up.
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Glueck noted a couple of anomalies in his report:
On the 15th, the temperature in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ varied by only four degrees with a high of 53 and a low of 49 degrees.
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s average high temperatures also exceeded those in Phoenix for two months.
“The December average high temperature at the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ airport was 69.1 degrees while at Phoenix Sky Harbor it was 68.4. This month (January) the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ airport recorded a monthly average high temperature of 65 degrees versus the 64 recorded at Phoenix Sky Harbor,†Glueck wrote.
Climatologist Mike Crimmins of the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ said he was pleasantly surprised that snow and rain totals were above normal in a year when a weak La Niña system was supposed to hold down precipitation totals.
That weather signal, caused by a cooling of ocean temperatures in the Pacific, has now shifted into neutral.
Crimmins said he is pessimistic that the winter will end with above-normal rainfall. He then apologized: “I’m standing in my backyard in 75-degree weather, complaining.â€
But the predictions for February and into spring are pessimistic. The National Climate Prediction Center says Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ will probably be warmer and drier than normal for the next three months.
The short-term outlook for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is also pessimistic, if you look at things that way.
It will be mostly sunny with highs in the mid-to-upper 70s and lows in the upper 40s — downright beautiful — for the foreseeable future.
