Likes to be troughy but isn’t

Lotta high temperature records falling in Arizona lately, info courtesy of U of WA Husky researcher, Mark Albright’s web page here.

Arizona daily record temperatures and precipitation

SXUS75 KPSR 150830
RERPSR
RECORD EVENT REPORT 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
130 AM MST FRI MAR 15 2013
...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES SET AT PHOENIX AND YUMA...
 A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 95 DEGREES WAS SET AT PHOENIX AZ 
YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 91 SET IN 2007.
 A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 96 DEGREES WAS SET AT YUMA AZ 
YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 95 SET IN 1934.
$$

SXUS75 KTWC 150104
RERTWC
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
535 PM MST THU MAR 14 2013 
...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES SET FOR THURSDAY MAR 14...
LOCATION                  RECORD  OLD RECORD
TUCSON INTL AIRPORT         92    87/2007
BISBEE-DOUGLAS AIRPORT      85    83/2007
KITT PEAK                   71    71/1972
PICACHO PEAK                90    90/2007
$$

SXUS75 KPSR 150013
RERPSR
RECORD EVENT REPORT...UPDATED 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
0511 PM MST THU MAR 14 2013
...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES SET AT PHOENIX AND YUMA...
 A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 95 DEGREES WAS SET AT PHOENIX AZ TODAY. 
THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 91 SET IN 2007.
 A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 96 DEGREES WAS SET AT YUMA AZ TODAY. 
THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 95 SET IN 1934.
$$

SXUS75 KFGZ 150057
RERFGZ
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF, AZ
556 PM MST THU MAR 14 2013
...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES FOR NORTHERN ARIZONA ON MAR 14 2013...
CITY (PERIOD OF RECORD)            NEW HIGH      PREVIOUS RECORD/YEAR
PAYSON (1949 - 2013)                   78          78 (TIED)  IN  2007
PRESCOTT (1899 - 2013)                 77          77 (TIED)  IN  2007
PRESCOTT AIRPORT (1948 - 2013)         79          78         IN  2007
SELIGMAN (1905 - 2013)                 81          81 (TIED)  IN  2007
THESE RECORDS ARE PRELIMINARY PENDING OFFICIAL REPORTS.
$$
CO

SXUS75 KPSR 142314
RERPSR
RECORD EVENT REPORT 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
0414 PM MST THU MAR 14 2013
...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES SET AT PHOENIX AND YUMA...
 A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 93 DEGREES WAS SET AT PHOENIX AZ TODAY. 
THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 91 SET IN 2007.
 A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 96 DEGREES WAS SET AT YUMA AZ TODAY. 
THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 95 SET IN 1934.
$$

SXUS75 KTWC 140034
RERTWC
RECORD EVENT REPORT 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
534 PM MST WED MAR 13 2013
...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE BROKEN AT THE TUCSON INTL AIRPORT THIS 
AFTERNOON... 
 A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 89 DEGREES WAS SET AT THE TUCSON 
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TODAY. THE OLD RECORD OF 88 DEGS WAS SET IN 
1989.
$$

Here's what a giant blob of anomaly over the West looks like;
not sure I've seen one this big before, kind of a "planet out of control" map:
The height anomaly pattern at 500 millibars for 5 PM AST yesterday. They don't get bigger than this.
The height anomaly pattern at 500 millibars for 5 PM AST yesterday. They don’t get bigger than this.  To reach the height of the 500 millibar pressure level you have to go up in a hot air balloon higher than usual because the pressure doesn’t change so rapidly when you go up in a hot air balloon and its hot (air has lower density).  But, its cold in New Hampshire, too cold for late March so perhaps we can take some solace in that as part of another “warm in the West, cold in the East” pattern.  (See low height anomaly off New England coast.)


The green line is "climatology" at 500 millibars.  Note how that green line bulges southward in the Southwest indicating a prevalence of troughs at this time of year.  We have the opposite now, but its fading fast.
The green line is “climatology” at 500 millibars. Note how that green line bulges southward in the Southwest indicating a prevalence of troughs at this time of year. We have the opposite now, but its fading fast.  Look at how the yellow and green lines are out of phase.




The weather ahead


LOTS of troughs in our future once this bag of hot air over us dissipates, but not one of those troughs is far enough south or strong enough to bring rain over the next two weeks. Ugh. Our best chance for anything still remains around the 21st–a trough in the area guaranteed, but only the thermometer will get a workout from it, cooling off from the warmth of the previous day, likely some noticeable wind, as per usual in the spring with trough passages.


So, that’s about it for weather, thermometer getting some work, the anemometer some, too, but not your rain gauge.  Oh, me.


However, with approaching troughs, there’ll be some nice Cirrus clouds and with them, occasional nice sunsets and sunrises in the days ahead.


The End.

	


	

				

				

			

			By Art Rangno			

			
 Retiree from a group specializing in airborne measurements of clouds and aerosols  at the University of Washington (Cloud and Aerosol Research Group).  The projects in which I participated were in many countries;  from the Arctic to Brazil, from the Marshall Islands to South Africa.