By John Simpson
December 2019 was right about average at my place in central Del Lago for rain. I recorded 1.43″ of rain and my 9-year average for December is 1.47.” The Tucson airport recorded 1.20″ of rain and the airport’s 30-year average is 0.93.” For the year, I recorded 15.72″ which is the second wettest year since I started keeping full year records in 2012. My 8-year full year average is 13.26.” The airport recorded 13.62″ of rain, which is well above its 30-year average of 11.59″ and the 25th wettest year since 1895. Even though summer monsoon rainfall was below average, the year still ended up quite wet due to three very wet months, February, September, and November. When I moved to Tucson in 1988 to attend graduate school at the University of Arizona (Meteorology program), I learned about the local weather patterns and which parts of the Tucson area are typically wetter than others. I learned that the further South and East you go, you typically get more summer monsoonal rain and the closer you are to the mountains, you typically get more precipitation for both summer and winter rain events. This general rule would mean Vail should be wetter than the Tucson airport location, and it is. For every year, 2012-2019, I recorded more rain than the Tucson airport. On the temperature side, December 2019 was warmer than average at the airport. The daytime highs were slightly above average but the night time lows were about 3 degrees warmer than average. For the year, 2019 was the 17th warmest year on record for Tucson and was cooler than recent years. Tucson has had some record warm years recently and 2019 was the coolest since 2011.
| Year | Warmest Rank |
| 2019 | 17 |
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2017 | 1 (warmest year) |
| 2016 | 2 Tied |
| 2015 | 5 |
| 2014 | 2 Tied |
| 2013 | 10 |
| 2012 | 7 |
Let’s not forget that 2019 was quite snowy in Vail. I recorded 12 inches total for 2019, more than any other year since I moved here in 1988. 2″ fell on New Year’s Day, 5″ on January 2nd, and 5″ on February 22nd. Next month, in addition to the monthly climate report, I will discuss the airport’s 30-year averages and how the decade of the 20-teens compared to previous decades for both temperature and rainfall.
