Big Idea

• Sunny and breezy this week
• Afternoon highs should range from mid-80’s to low 90’s for area
• Remember, we’re in Stage 1 Fire Restrictions
• Slightly cooler Friday and Saturday
• Read more...

Clear skies, sunny and breezy. Boring weather from a meteorologist's point of view!

Overview:

Typical boring spring weather this week. Sunny and breezy, with a slight cooling trend.

Forecast Table:

https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/wxtables/

Navigate on the map to your location and click for a detailed local forecast.

Forecast:

For today through Wednesday, sunny and breezy, with afternoon highs ranging between the mid-80s for Prescott to the low 90s for Dewey-Humboldt and southwest winds gusting to around 25 mph. Thursday will be a little windier, with winds gusting to 30 mph. Friday and Saturday highs will be about 3 degrees cooler, but will rebound on Sunday.

Additional notes for the weather nuts:

During sunny and windy afternoons, temperatures are dependent on elevation, with an average temperature decrease of 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit per 1,000 ft of elevation gain. That means that Prescott at 5,400 ft will be slightly more than 2 degrees cooler than Prescott Valley at 5,000 ft, while Dewey-Humboldt at 4,600 ft will be 2 degrees warmer than Prescott Valley and more than 4 degrees warmer than Prescott. Morning minimum temperatures, however, are quite different. After the sun sets, radiational cooling creates a layer of cold air near the surface. This cold air sinks into topographic depressions , so these areas cool the most overnight while hill sides and tops receive less cooling. For example, at my house at 4,600 ft in the Agua Fria valley in Humboldt, temperatures have been dropping into the 30s each night, while locations in Prescott Heights nearer 5,500 ft have barely fallen below 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Have a great week!

Mark.

Mark Sinclair, Ph.D.
Program Chair and Professor, Meteorology
Department of Applied Aviation Sciences, College of Aviation

Met Mail is an unofficial weather discussion and forecast transmitted once or twice a week via e-mail by the Embry-Riddle Department of Meteorology (http://meteo.pr.erau.edu/). Embry-Riddle offers an undergraduate bachelor-of-science degree program in Applied Meteorology. Please spread the word to all potential qualified candidates!

Further Information:

ERAU Applied Meteorology degree program

Official National Weather Service forecast

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