7 Day Forecast
We’re in for a bit of a roller-coaster ride when it comes to weather this week. Operative words include: sunglasses, umbrella and warm jacket.
Forecasts call for a warm-up and sunny skies today after a chilly Monday night, clouds rolling in tonight, likely rain on New Year’s Eve into New Year’s Day — and then another cold snap with daytime temperatures limited to the 40s and overnight lows slipping into the 20s.
Oh, and more showers could arrive near the end of the week, with snow levels possibly dropping to 3,000 feet — barely above Tucson’s elevation.
“We’re going to have all sorts of winter weather scenarios this week,” said Carl Cerniglia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “It’s a very changeable weather pattern.”
A DAY FOR SUNGLASSES
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Sunny conditions and warming weather are on tap for today, Cerniglia said.
“We’re seeing a warm-up following the cold system” that moved through the Tucson area over the weekend, he said. “Highs will be 68 or 69 degrees” today, with sunny skies.
“Then, Tuesday night, we will start to see some clouds rolling in — part of an approaching storm system from Southern California,” Cerniglia said Monday. “That will help keep temperatures up, with lows in the lower 40s overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday morning.”
UMBRELLA WEATHER
Wednesday will be “our changeable day,” Cerniglia said.
“It will still be relatively mild, but a front coming across could bring rain to the area,” he said. “We could see rain starting Wednesday afternoon.
“Some parts of the Tucson metro could see 0.3 or 0.4 of an inch of rain,” Cerniglia said. “The airport could see a quarter-inch or so.”
He said rain could continue through the night on Wednesday until about sunrise on New Year’s Day.
TIME FOR A JACKET
“It’s kind of a two-part storm this week,” Cerniglia said. “The second part comes through Thursday night into Friday. We’re still debating how much precipitation we’ll get out of that second part, but it will be cold with a chance of showers.
“The question mark is Thursday night to early Friday,” he said. “If we get precipitation, the snow level could drop down to 3,000 feet.”
Highs Friday will likely be only in the 40s, with a very cold night Friday.
“With a mostly clear night Friday, and with cold air sitting over us, we’ll probably see lows in the 20s,” Cerniglia said.
He said forecasts for the weekend call for sunny conditions and temperatures gradually warming into the 50s during the day.
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