By John Simpson
The January 2022 climate report by John Simpson. January 2022 was warmer and dryer than normal. I only recorded 0.45” of rain for the month, which is about ½ my 11-year average of 0.96.” The Tucson Airport only recorded 0.28” and its 30-yeaar average is 0.84.” Most of the rain occurred on New Year’s morning with very little rain the remainder of the month. January rainfall for the Vail readership area ranged from about 0.05” on the West side (Rita Ranch) to nearly an inch on the East side (Mescal). Rainfall statewide for Arizona was well below average in general. On the temperature side, the Tucson Airport recorded the 17th warmest January on record with the average temperature being 0.7 degrees above average.
You might wonder why a mere 0.7 degrees above average is the 17th warmest January since the 1880s. Remember, the National Weather Service is now using the latest 30-year averages, which is from 1991 to 2020, and the last two decades have been quite warm bumping up the 30-year average. So far at the time of this writing on February 19th, rainfall has been on the light side. The La Nina conditions are most likely responsible for the below average rainfall and above average temperatures since the beginning of the year as the weather service has predicted. For next month, I will report on February and discuss the full winter 2021/22 climate report.
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.
