The year ended here at the house very dry, and with cold mornings. From 21 December through this morning (1 January 2012) there was only one day that did not have lows below freezing (the 22nd at 34F). The eight days from the 23rd through the 30th of December had lows in the 20s, with 6 days at or below 23F.
This morning the low here at house (2350 MSL) was 29F. The current temperature at the airport (TUS) is 80F, making this a day with a diurnal temperature range of more than 50F. This is quite something with the sun angle so low. We've been running 10 to 15F colder in the mornings than the official TUS lows at the airport.
This morning the cold est air was at low elevations that have some cold air drainage. The following lows occurred at RAWS stations nearby - Rincon (8209 MSL) 44F; Mt. Hopkins (7120 MSL) 53F; Empire (4658 MSL) 36F; and Sasabe (3500 MSL) 34F. The official low at TUS this morning was 43F. The photo above shows the Mt. Hopkins RAWS, station at lower middle of image, with the view looking north at the Hubble telescope on the peak of Mt. Hopkins.
Art Douglas reported similar temperatures over in the Huachucas and San Pedro River valley. Art had 56F at 7 am where he's renting (near Ramsey Canyon) and Coronado NM Headquarters had 53F. A weather station in the bottoms of the San Pedro, east of Ash Canyon, had freezing and Elfrida (north of Douglas) has 29F.
No precipitation here since the 19th of December, but the ECMWF is indicating at least some possiblities for next weekend - so we'll wait and see how things evolve. Meanwhile, it is continuing very warm during the afternoons.
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