Phoenix bracing for cooler weather, possible rain early next week
Oct 23, 2020, 3:00 PM | Updated: 9:02 pm
(Victoria Jones/PA via AP)
PHOENIX — Cooler weather and precipitation may finally be on their way to Phoenix after the hottest summer on record.
High temperatures are supposed to dip into the 70s by early next week with moderate chances for rain.
The best chance of rain will come Monday at 40% as the high temperature is forecast to drop almost 15 degrees from the previous day to 73 degrees.
Tuesday’s high is forecast to be 71 degrees with a 20% chance of rain.
Parts of Northern Arizona could also see snow and freezing temperatures during the same period.
“We will really see changes Monday and Tuesday as temperatures fall even further,” Paul Iniguez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Friday.
Iniguez says it’s about time the Valley starts to experience the mild weather that attracts so many out-of-towners.
The end of October is typically when extreme heat disappears until the following summer.
“This is when the pattern really does start to shift,” Iniguez said.
The latest Phoenix has hit the 100-degree mark in a calendar year is Oct. 27.
The mercury most recently touched 100 degrees last Friday.
NWS is still expecting a drier than normal winter across Arizona despite the expected front.
That’s due to the La Nina weather pattern, which is a natural cooling of certain parts of the equatorial Pacific that usually leads to less rain and snow in the Southwest.
Arizona recorded the driest meteorological summer, which runs from June through August, in history. Phoenix also experienced its hottest summer in history.
“The outlook is that the winter will end up being drier than normal,” Iniguez said.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ali Vetnar contributed to this report.