By John Simpson
The April 2021 Climate report by John Simpson. April is typically a dry month and only one day, April 27th, yielded rain for the area in April 2021. From that one day, I recorded 0.27” of rain in Central Del Lago, which is exactly at my 10-year average. The airport recorded just a trace of rain and their 30-year average is 0.31 inches. During the rain event of April 27th, rainfall amounts in Vail varied greatly, from no rain at all to 0.27.” My rain gauge seemed to record the most in the vail area. For the greater Tucson area, rain amounts varied from no rain to 2/3 of an inch. The higher amounts fell in the Tucson Mountains. See rainlog.org for rain amounts throughout Arizona. On the temperature side, April 2021 was the third warmest on record for Tucson. The average temperature for April was 4.9 degrees above the 30-year average. The severe drought conditions continue for southern Arizona. In fact, the past twelve months, May 2020 to April 2021, have been the driest consecutive twelve months in Tucson since records began in the late 1880s. Only 3.12” of rain has fallen at the Tucson Airport the past twelve months. I have only recorded 4.42” of rain the past twelve month. The driest month of the year, May, is next. At the time of this writing in mid-May, not rain has fallen as of yet. Hopefully the forecast for an above average monsoon season rainfall wise is still not track. I have not heard anything to the contrary. I will report on May next month and give any further insight for the upcoming monsoon season.
John Simpson has lived in southern Arizona the past 33 years and Vail for 17 of those years. John has a bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric Science from the University of Missouri and a mster’s degree in Atmospheric Physics from the University of Arizona. He loves exploring the outdoors with his family and photographing weather and the beauty of southern Arizona.
