Cold in Arizona?

[2 Seam Fastball]

Did I hear right? 40 degree temp in Phoenix area??

[southerngale]

Here's a post from someone on a local forum. She is from Southeast Texas, but now lives in Tucson.

It is 41 degrees in Tucson at 11:45AM MST on Dec 28, 2007. That just ain't right in Tucson folks! It is supposed to be a balmy 82. I am supposed to be running around in shorts and birkies, not sitting here in 2 sweatshirts, socks and fuzzy house shoes. Not to mention a knit cap.

Who approved of this weather anyhow?

[2 Seam Fastball]

Sheesh!!

[Aslkahuna]

Actually, 82° in Tucson this time of year would be very hot since their average high for late December is in the mid 60's. TUS got down to the mid 20's yesterday morning which would imply lows down to about 20° in the colder areas and the low deserts. PHX had freeze warnings out for outlying areas. But in SE AZ it's the areas east of the Santa Rita Mountains that get the cold since the valleys are at 4000' elevation or so. Fortunately we had high clouds come in yesterday morning or we would have seen lows in the teens. As it was, we hit the low 20's. The local pneumonia hollows can get down into single digits at times (Douglas has gone to 8° and Palominas south of SV down to 6° while down by the river the remote sites have measured temperatures as low as -2°. My all time low at the house is 11° and every month from November through March has seen lows here below 20°. We do get a Winter in Cochise County but fortunately one that doesn't go overboard-usually. For the San Pedro Valley the record low is -6° while Willcox has seen -10°. BTW the record low for AZ (in the mountains) is -40° while the record for PHX is 16° and that for TUS is 6°-both of those set in January 1913. The record at FHU that day was 1° which would have meant local temperatures in what is now Sierra Vista and the other communities would have gone well below Zero.

Steve

[2 Seam Fastball]

I am a New Yorker but I like and visit Arizona often. May soon to be a resident in the Phoenix area.