Summary of the year 2007!!

Highlights of the year include the coldest January and December on record with warm to hot temperatures and dry weather conditions the rest of the year, in fact this was the third driest year on record at Pepperridge.

The year 2007 started out fairly mild with above normal temperatures and dry weather conditions. Temperatures peak for the month of January on the 9th with 75.6°F. Then the record breaking cold streak began as a artic air mass gripped the southwest. The afternoon high temperature plummeted 29.0°F in 4 days with a high of only 46.6°F on the 13th. This was followed by the alltime coldest night on record at Pepperridge with 22.0°F with 9 hours of sub freezing temps,including 7 hours and 25 minutes below 28°F mark.

This killing frost produced widespread damage to plants accross the valley and was the coldest night since Dec 1990 at Sky Harbor Airport,the official recording station in Phoenix, with 29.0°F. And it was the first time since Dec 1990 that there were offically two subfreezing nights in a row at Sky Harbor. The daily average temp at Pepperridge on Jan 14th was a all time low of 32.9°F and the high was only 44.6°F which is tied with Dec 6, 1998 for the lowest alltime lowest maximum. The first rain of 2007 fell on Jan 19th with another cold artic system which brang a rare snow event to parts of the valley on January 21st Snow also fell in Tucson, Ariz with 2 inches. (pictured to the right) By the end of the month January 2007 was the coldest January on record at Pepperidge with a average temp of 49.1°F this is also the coldest month on record at Pepperridge.

February 2007 was rather uneventful with slightly below normal rainfall but in March a heatwave began on March 12th and the 90°F mark was reach on March 15th and the peak of this heat wave occurred on March 16th with 97.5°F which is the earliest in year that it has been this hot. Temperatures cool off quickly as the last major rain event of the winter season occurred on March 22 with 0.61 inches. In April temperatures climbed quickly into the 90s again with some cooler weather mid month but the heat return near month's end as the earliest 100°F mark on record was reached on April 28th with 100.6°F this day also included a dry thunder storm that produced the peak wind gust for the year at 36 mph at 4:20pm.

May and Jun were uneventful with hot and dry weather and this hot weather trend continued into early July when the temperatures peaked for the year on July 4th with 111.4°F and continued until the late start of the Monsoon season.

The Monsoon Season began on July 10th and ended on Sept 10th. The rainfall total was a mere 1.72 inches the second driest Monsoon Season on record!!. Sky Harbor Airport only measured 0.67 inches the EIGHTH driest on record! Sky Harbor Monsoon Stats. The early monsoon season was actually fairly active with several storms effecting parts of the valley in late July including a severe storm that struck the North Scottsdale Cavecreek/Carefree area on July 31st. This storm produced very heavy rainfall to the northeast of Pepper Ridge with 1.43 inches falling in Carefree, which also had a microburst which destroyed a shade structure in the Amphitheater and damage 2 other canopies in the Downtown Gardens at Carefree Town Center. This storm appeared to be headed right for Pepper Ridge as you could see the rain shafts falling a couple miles away to the northeast but storm was slow moving and the rain barely made it here with only 0.13 inches falling. So by months end rainfall varied from 3.84 inches in Carefree, to 1.63 inches for the month at Pepperridge 0.36 inches above normal the first above normal month of the year, to only 0.36 inches for the month at Sky Harbor which was -0.63 inches below normal.

Then in August the first major break of the Monsoon began on the 8th of the month, this ended a streak of 25 Monsoon days (days with a dewpoint average at 55.0°F or above), in a row was just first of many breaks which dominated the rest of August as the High Pressure which normal sits over the four corners area park itself directly overhead and suppressed any major thunderstorm outbreaks in the valley for the next several days as the high temperature climbed to it highest level for the month with 111.0°F on the 12th. by months end only one major storm had occurred A small laspe in the high pressure allow the first real thunderstorm outbreak of the month over the Phoenix area as the outflow from storms southeast of the valley produce a gravity wave that allowed new thunderstorms to form over the valley on the night of August 13th into the early morning hours of August 14th with parts of central Phoenix picking up 1/2 to 3/4 of a inch of rain but only 0.07 inches fell at Pepperridge which end up being the monthly total for August which was the driest on record Pepperridge. September was dry with only 0.02 inches a far cry from a year ago when 5.24 inches fell in September 2006. The Monsoon ended on Sept 10th with little fanfare and only 1.72 inches the second driest on record. For the complete Monsoon Highlights Click Here.

After the Monsoon ended on Sept 10th, the weather dried out for the rest of September. October follow with the extremely dry trend contining with above normal temperatures. Early November was hot and dry with temperatures in the low 90s there were 4 days of 90 degree weather with the warmest November day being the 5th with 91.2°F. This was the second most 90 degree days in November just behind November 1999's 6 days. The warm dry weather continued thru November 29th. As of this date only 0.11 inches had fallen since Aug 1st making it the driest year on record thru November 29th. Then on November 30th the much promised and advertised wet storm arrived. Dumping 1.86 inches the wettest November day on record leaving the monthly total at 1.88 inches wettest Nov on record. this wet end of November brang temporary relief to long drought and it brought a end to the warm temperatures.

The wet storm continued into the first day of December and the storm total at Pepperidge was 2.55 inches further to Northeast of Pepperridge, The Town of Carefree had received a whopping 4 and 1/2 inches from this storm. A series of storms continued through the first 10 days of December bringing welcoming valley rain and much need Mountain Snows. In fact by December 11th 3.55 inches of rain had fallen at Pepperridge since Nov 30th bringing the yealy rainfall total to 7.49 inches. Despite all this late November/Early December rain the year was still the third driest on record!! The weather turned cold for the rest of December with the high temperatures continued to below normal and the mercury reached only a high of 66.0°F for the rest of the year on Dec 18th. A cold dry a windy Christmas produce the first freeze of the winter season on Dec 26th with a low of 30.0°F and another freeze on the 28th with 32.2°F. By the end of December we had had the coldest December on record with 49.6°F average beating the previous December average of 49.9°F this also happens to be the second coldest month on record!

So by the end of the year we had had the warmest year on record at Pepperridge with a average temperature of 72.6°F. This was mainly due to the hot dry summer as the year began and ended with the coldest months on record with Janaury's average of 49.1°F and December's 49.6°F, indeed a interesting year in weather!

2007 Highlights:

The highest temperature of the year 111.4°F on July 4th, the lowest temperature of the year 22.0°F on January 14th at 7:50am, the alltime lowest temperatue on record. The lowest maximum was 44.6°F on January 14th at 3:35pm, and the highest minium was 88.2°F on July 6th at 6:55am. The highest daily average was 99.1°F on July 6th, the lowest mean was 32.9°F on Jan 14th,(a all time record!). The high temperature exceded 90°F 171 days this while the low fell to 32°F or below on 3 days.

The mean temperature for the year was 72.6°F which was warmest year on record. Total rainfall for 2007 was 7.49 inches (2.65) inches below normal, and the 3rd driest year on record. The greastest daily total was 1.86 inches on Nov 30th. The wetest month was November with 1.88 inches. The peak wind gust of the year occurred during April with a peak gust of 36 mph on April 28th.

Here is a List of other High and Lows recorded in 2007:

Highest Wind Gust 36 mph at 4:20pm on Apr 28th

Below is a summary of the weather year 2007

     There is also a text box area with more details of records and weather events of the entire year

             
          2007        2007  AVERAGES °F  (RAIN)    2007    Extremes °F
          MONTH       MAX:  MIN:  MEAN:    in     MAX:  DATE: MIN:  DATE:
         ----------------------------------------------------------------
          JANUARY...  61.6  38.6  49.1  ( 0.69 )   75.6  1/09  22.0  1/14
          FEBRUARY..  69.3  44.1  56.1  ( 0.52 )   81.4  2/06  33.9  2/24
          MARCH.....  80.1  51.0  65.2  ( 0.70 )   97.5  3/16  33.2  3/01 
          APRIL.....  83.6  55.0  70.1  ( 0.29 )  100.6  4/28  45.8  4/16       
          MAY......   94.4  64.7  81.0  ( 0.00 )  103.3  5/12  50.8  5/06     
          JUNE.....  102.2  77.2  89.0  ( 0.00 )  108.2  6/26  63.2  6/08 
      
          JULY.....  103.3  80.0  92.0  ( 1.63 )  111.4  7/04  73.3  7/31        
          AUGUST.... 102.9  81.8  92.6  ( 0.07 )  111.0  8/12  75.5  8/08        
          SEPTEMBER.  97.7  74.1  86.0  ( 0.02 )  107.7  9/01  58.6  9/24        
          OCTOBER...  87.6  61.2  74.0  ( 0.00 )   93.8 10/03  51.0 10/07      
          NOVEMBER..  79.8  53.8  66.0  ( 1.88 )   91.2 11/05  39.8 11/25       
          DECEMBER..  61.7  39.4  49.6  ( 1.69 )   74.5 12/04  30.0 12/26      
         ----------------------------------------------------------------
          YR TOTALS   85.4  59.7  72.6  ( 7.49 )  111.4  7/04  22.0  1/14