Phoenix holiday tradition of glorious Thanksgiving weather expected to continue

PHOENIX — While everyone has their own holiday traditions, there’s one thing all metro Phoenix residents and visitors can look forward to pretty much every year: glorious Thanksgiving weather.

That tradition will continue on Thursday, which is expected to be Phoenix’s ninth consecutive Thanksgiving with highs of at least 70 degrees.

“We’re going to be looking at dry, pleasant conditions persisting for Thanksgiving Day,” Isaac Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Phoenix, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Tuesday morning. “We’re going to be looking at highs across the Phoenix area topping out in the low to mid 70s.”

That’s actually a tad cooler than it has been over the past week, but it’s right around normal for this time of year.

Friday shoppers can expect more of the same, but they might want to bring a jacket if they head to the stores early.

“Black Friday will see similar temperatures for highs in the afternoon. Bit of a chilly morning for Black Friday morning, with low temperatures bottoming out in the upper 40s to low 50s,” Smith said.

While the Valley will experience cloud cover at times this week, Smith said, there’s no rain in the forecast.

It’s been more than three months since Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which the NWS uses for the city’s official readings, received more than trace amounts of precipitation.

Thanksgiving weather in Phoenix is easy to predict

2015 was the last time the mercury failed to reach at least 70 degrees at Sky Harbor.

In addition, it rarely gets warm enough to break a sweat on Thanksgiving in Phoenix. The temperature has only climbed into the 80s once in the last nine years, hitting 87 in 2017.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.

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