Climate

Today and tomorrow are supposed to be at or near record setting for these dates. I took the image above of the clock/temperature readout on our patio at about 3:30 this afternoon.

The following discussion is from the National Weather Service:

NEAR RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE FRIDAY. A MODEST COOLING TREND WILL BEGIN DURING THE WEEKEND...THOUGH TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ABOVE AVERAGE THROUGH AT LEAST THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. SKIES WILL REMAIN MOSTLY CLEAR...WITH PERIODS OF PASSING HIGH CLOUDS.

DISCUSSION...

REST OF THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY...TEMPS HAVE REACHED WELL INTO THE 90S THIS AFTERNOON AT MOST LOW ELEVATION LOCATIONS. PHOENIX BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 91...REACHED 93 SO FAR AS OF THIS WRITING. YUMA WILL AT LEAST TIE THEIR RECORD FOR THE DATE...95. ANTICIPATE VERY SIMILAR HIGH TEMPERATURES FRIDAY. HOWEVER...THE UPPER RIDGE WILL BE WEAKENING. ON SATURDAY...THE RIDGE WILL HAVE BEEN FLATTENED AND SHORT WAVE PASSES BY BRINGING HIGH CLOUDS. THUS MAX TEMPS DROP A LITTLE BIT. ON SUNDAY A STRONGER SHORT WAVE PASSES BY...ALTHOUGH CENTERED FURTHER NORTH...FOR SOME SLIGHT ADDITIONAL COOLING. BUT OVERALL...WEEKEND TEMPS WILL STILL BE WELL ABOVE NORMAL.

Most of January until this week has seen fairly cool days and several overnight temperatures below freezing. This afternoon and yesterday saw temperatures above 70° and the forecast on National Weather Service says the warm trend will continue into the weekend, but falling again early next week with some chance for showers.

Image: Temperature on the back porch at 2:30 this afternoon.

We covered most of the frost sensitive trees, shrubs and cacti before the freeze, and most of them survived. We also winterized the spa and drained the water out of the travel trailer. We’re hoping that the cooler period for next week is brief so we can get back to spring-like weather.