Arizona Heat Wave: Hottest November day on record
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Tucson NWS forecast highs Wednesday show record level temperatures in the 90s.
We know it's hot in the Desert Southwest. It's just never been this hot in November for some in Arizona.
Several Arizona cities set record highs Tuesday, and more records are in danger today. Picacho Peak sits about half way between Tucson and Phoenix along I-10 in the Sonoran Desert. Tuesday afternoon the thermometer soared to 97 degrees. Phoenix hit 96 degrees. That's the hottest all-time November temperature on record for Picacho and ties the all-time hottest November temp in Phoenix.
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Records Tuesday include:
Location High/Old Record / Year/ Notes
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport 96°/ 94°/1931/ Ties all-time warmest November high.
Tucson International Airport 93°/91°/1931/ One degree shy of all-time warmest November high.
Organ Pipe Cactus N.M. 96°/ 92°/1997/ One degree shy of all-time warmest November high.
Picacho Peak 97°/ 91°/2001/ Broke all-time warmest November high (93°: 11/1/2008)
Bisbee-Douglas Airport 85°/ 85°/2001/ Two degrees shy of all-time November high.
So what does this have to do with Minnesota?
Some of this toasty air mass will filter over the Rockies in the coming days and may modify our air mass as warmer southwest winds kick in by Friday. I'm not sayin' we'll see records here which are in the lower 70s. I'm just sayin' that the models can sometimes underestimate the magnitude of warming when desert air masses get sucked into weather systems in the Upper Midwest.
I think we're a lock for at least 60 degrees in the metro Friday or Saturday. If enough warm air surges north, we could see 70s in southern Minnesota and even a stray 80 in South Dakota. Let's hope so!
PH