arizonasooner

Well we went straight from summer to winter in Phoenix this year. The average temp for November was 60.2F at Sky Harbor, 4.9F below average. And only one day in the month had an above average daily temp. I haven't run the AC or the heat in about 45 days now...

Yes the Phoenix warm season was on average quite hot. But, with the recent rainfall yesterday, it has also been pretty wet. The Maricopa County flood control district has rainfall in north Peoria near my house at about 5.12 inches since June 1. Plants are happy and things are really green around town this year compared to the past few years...

I am certainly not disputing the fact that the last several years have been very hot. But I am very happy that the last 30 days have been more like a "normal" summer from the distant past. At the Deer Valley airport near where I live the last 30 days have seen temperatures 2.51 degrees below the recent average with 2.46 inches of rain. Much better than any recent summer and very welcome after the warm start to July! The rain has been pretty hit-and-miss though. We had a nice big thunderstorm at my house last night with about 0.51 inches of rain even though Deer Valley got nothing. But in general, all parts of the valley has had a decent monsoon this year.

Ok here's what is remarkable about this July. The 96.7F mean temperature is only 1.2 degrees F above the current 30-year average of 95.5F. That's probably why it has seemed "not so hot" to me, as I have only lived in Phoenix for about 30 years. Also interesting is the fact that the last 8 days have been below average temperature, so without the current cool spell, this July would have turned out much worse. And finally, the valley had 14 days of a trace or more of rain in the month - while Sky Harbor did not get much, Deer Valley, up by me got 1.73 inches for the month. So yes, this was a slightly warmer than normal month, but it has also been a little wetter than normal at my house.

Okay I know this is anecdotal, but I have lived in Phoenix for the last 28 years or so, and this year has simply not seemed that hot, compared to 1996 or 2020. I can remember being outside at 11 pm in 1996 late July and it was over 110F. And 2020 nearly killed all of the plants in my yard. But this year I have cucumbers, okra, and some odd melon plant still growing in my garden. Granted I live on the outskirts of town at a slightly higher elevation than the Phoenix airport. I think the anomalous high low temps at the airport are due to the urban heat island effect. The valley is much more paved than it was 20 years ago. So up here in the north valley, it's just another summer...

Oh that is NOT good. I have a flight from TUL to STL to FLL departing at about 5pm on Dec 25. Cannot miss the flight, or the entire holiday trip could be ruined! (Going to Trinidad on the 26th and South America on the 27th). Knowing my luck, this forecast will verify.