ARIZONA NEWS
Valley wakes up Thursday to some of coldest temperatures of season
PHOENIX — The Valley woke up to one of the coldest mornings of the season Thursday, while temperatures plummeted below zero in parts of northern Arizona.
The morning low at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was 35 degrees, tied for the coldest reading of the winter.
It dipped below freezing further away from the city center, including the area north of Deer Valley Airport, Fountain Hills and Queen Creek.
“It has definitely been … close to one of the coldest, if not the coldest, mornings we have seen … in the Valley so far this season,” Ryan Worley of the National Weather Service in Phoenix told KTAR News 92.3 FM.
“We have seen some surrounding areas even reach the upper 20s up in the north Valley.”
A freeze warning for metro Phoenix started around 1:30 a.m. and was set to expire at 9 a.m., per the National Weather Service.
Cold morning out there. Sky Harbor fell to 35°F, which is 14 degrees below the daily average of 49°F and ties for the coldest morning low temperature this Winter. #azwx pic.twitter.com/u9Gljrc9RJ
— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) February 16, 2023
The Phoenix forecast calls for a high of 60 degrees Thursday, with temperatures climbing into the 70s over the weekend and into next week.
“We’ll see a pretty gradual warming trend over the next few days,” Worley said. “It’s looking like we might be done with these lower 30s, at least for now.”
Flagstaff, meanwhile, saw a morning low of 9 below zero. Other high country extremes included minus 18 in Fort Valley and minus 13 in Happy Jack.
The highs are expected to stay around or below freezing Thursday on the tail end of a cold front that dumped snow across northern Arizona a day earlier, shutting schools and highways.
“Today will definitely be a cold day,” Valerie Meola of the National Weather Service in Flagstaff told KTAR News on Thursday.
“Temperatures will probably, and especially in the higher elevations, be in the 20s, maybe lower 30s, but that’s about 15-20 degrees below normal for this time of year.”
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.
