February was warm, wet for Phoenix
Rainfall has been above average for 4 months in a row
Remember all the fuss about the El Niño winter last year that was supposed to be wet and wild?
Remember how it didn’t pan out that way?
Well, if you were wondering how things were supposed to have been last year, they would have looked a lot like this winter.
Rain Monday and Tuesday capped off a February that was a little warmer and wetter than normal for Phoenix. It marked the fourth straight month that the city saw more rain than average.
For people who pay attention to these things, like University of Arizona climatologist Mike Crimmins, this winter looked a lot like what was expected last year.
“Quite honestly, this is what I thought was going to happen last winter, except it didn’t,” Crimmins said. “Early in the (current) winter I was looking ahead saying, ‘Boy, I think it’s going to shut down and it’s going to be dry.’ Here we are now 180 degrees from that. It’s been an impressive winter by all accounts.”
Phoenix had 1.24 Inches of rain in February. That’s 0.32 inch more than normal. For the meteorological winter (December, January and February), Phoenix is 0.58 inch above normal.
The city also had an average temperature (taking the average high and low and dividing by two) of 61.9 degrees in February. That’s 2.2 degrees more than normal. For the meteorological winter the average temperature is about 1 degree above normal.
Wondering if four months of aboveaverage rainfall is taking the edge off the region’s persistent drought? It helps, but we have a long way to go.
Crimmins explains that though we’re headed in the right direction, it takes two or three consecutive seasons of average to above-average precipitation to make progress.
“Last winter, we faltered with the winter (precipitation), quite a bit, and then we had a wet spring,” Crimmins said. “Then the monsoon was the way the monsoon always is with winners and losers, but overall it was pretty good for the state and now we’ve got a good winter. Having a decent summer and decent winter has started to turn the boat in the direction of even longer-termed improvements.”
But the news isn’t all good in terms of drought relief. Remember those abovenormal temperatures?
There has been significant snowfall in northern Arizona this winter, but much of that snow has melted due to warmer weather.
“The one blemish on this winter is that it has been really warm and the snowpack across the state has been unbelievably below average,” Crimmins said.
On the positive side, Crimmins said there was average to above-average snowpack in the upper Colorado River basin and if that holds, it can help replenish reservoirs on that waterway.
But, and there is always a but when it comes to these things, that can change.
“It’s still early and we all know things can go south real quick,” Crimmins said.