No surprises in Memorial Day forecast for Phoenix: Seasonably hot and dry
Memorial Day weekend in Phoenix usually means firing up the grill under the hot sun, and this year will be no exception.
Temperatures were expected to fluctuate from the upper 90s to the lower 100s by the end of the week and into the weekend. The forecast was on-brand for the region this time of year: hot, dry and cloudless skies.
'It's going to be seasonably hot,' said Ted Whittock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix. 'Temperatures will peak Thursday around 105 degrees, then cool down to near normal in the upper 90s by Saturday. By Memorial Day, we're expecting around 100 to 103 degrees.'
Rain chances were nonexistent, also typical for this time of year, which is climatologically the driest.
It's a forecast that echoes the vast majority of Memorial Days in Phoenix, where the long weekend means heat, sun and rarely any rain. But there have been a few outliers over the last 100 years, from scorching to unseasonably mild.
Here's how Memorial Day weekend has looked in years past, with heat waves, surprise showers and everything in between.
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Phoenix's hottest Memorial Day on record was in 1910 when the thermometer hit 114 degrees. The record still stands as an all-time high for the holiday over a century later.
In recent years, triple digits have been common. Normal high temperatures for Memorial Day range from 98 to 100 degrees. Last year, the holiday high hit 102.
The coolest high on record was 79 degrees in 1988 and 2019.
Overnight lows on Memorial Day in Phoenix typically land between 72 and 75 degrees, providing modest relief from the early-season heat.
But there have been exceptions. In 1918, the temperature dipped to 51 degrees, the coldest Memorial Day morning on record.
But 1983 brought the warmest overnight low at 81 degrees, meaning Phoenix residents likely woke up sweating before the sun even rose.
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Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, and it's also the driest stretch of the year in Phoenix.
Rain over the holiday is uncommon — only six of the last 129 Memorial Days have seen trace amounts of precipitation, according to the weather service.
The average rainfall for the holiday is between zero and 0.01 of an inch at Sky Harbor Airport, so this weekend's dry forecast is on par for the season. The most rainfall recorded was 0.14 of an inch on May 28, 1990.
But Whittock still urged caution to residents and visitors to stay hydrated and avoid activities that could spark wildfires.
'It's not going to be particularly windy, but it's definitely going to be hot and dry,' he said. 'This is climatologically our driest time of the year, so fire weather is always a concern.'
Hayleigh Evans writes about extreme weather and related topics for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Email her with story tips at hayleigh.evans@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Memorial Day weather forecast for Phoenix brings hot temperatures
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