Year 2020 climate summary stats.. post 'em if you have 'em..

[Silas_Sancona 4,380]

As 2020 quickly slinks away in the rear view mirror, Climate numbers for the year start coming in..

A good summary of how 2020 played out here in Phoenix/ rest of the low desert.. inc. some data from California.. Pretty good write up from our local NWS as well.. 

Quick tweet:

...Full disclosure:
https://www.weather.gov/psr/YearinReview2020


  Tucson's 2020 data  ** New 30 yr climate stat comparison section included toward the bottom of the report** :
https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/twc/climate/monthly/2020.php

Flagstaff/ Nor. AZ:
https://www.weather.gov/media/fgz/MonthlyYearlyReview/WeatherClimateSummary_2020.pdf



As they come in, feel free to post those from your area..


Sunny, and chilly start on the first Sunday of the year.. Low 30s were a pretty common number..  w/a few, widely scattered 29F readings in the coolest outlaying parts of town around the East Valley around sunrise, with a touch of rooftop frost here at the house... mid 60s later..  68-72 or so still on schedule starting tomorrow- Friday or Sat.  Lows stay in the mid 30s-mid 40s range..  Enjoy it while it is around..

[bubba 1,262]

You are not kidding when you say enjoy it while it lasts! Another fantastic climate where it is flat hot for 10 months plus of the year.

[Silas_Sancona 4,380]

Just now, bubba said:

You are not kidding when you say enjoy it while it lasts! Another fantastic climate where it is flat hot for 10 months plus of the year.

While 2017 was hotter, in that Phoenix notched 120F/ winter 2017-18 was perhaps milder, experienced less " chilly " mornings, Last summer was torture by comparison, mainly due to the fact pretty much no rain fell which intensified the heat which usually will stat to moderate a bit ( compared to June/ early July heat ) once Monsoon season/ higher humidity kicks in.  2019 was dry as well, but not even close to as brutal.

One more climate summary to add for now.. Los Angeles NWS posted a quick look at how S.W. CA. did:  San Diego has something posted, but very basic, and only covers a few areas. Waiting for a full report to be posted ( if they do ).  S.F. Bay Area has a post for December stats, but not the whole year yet as well..

 

 

[bubba 1,262]

I am not certain that it is necessary to wait around for the monthly numbers or annual for that matter. Once again, I find USDA to be less compelling than Koppen-Geiger. To that end, this is the information readily available on Weather Underground for December 2020:

Los Angeles, California at Bob Hope AP

81F high 37 F low/ median=56.34F

La Quinta, California in La Quinta

83F high 41F low/median=59.8F

SD, CA at Banker’s Hill

79F high 42F low/ median=57.52F

[ColdBonsai 65]

I guess this graph is as good as it's gonna get from the weather service here.

16 degrees for our lowest temp, and a bit wetter to boot. I'll take it!

It will be interesting to see what our 10 year climate averages are.

[Silas_Sancona 4,380]

Some interesting perspective regarding the -extremely rare Lightning event that occurred last summer across the San Francisco Bay Area.. Growing up in San Jose, storms that produce Lightning during the summer are extremely uncommon there, mainly due to how the Pacific at that latitude effectively shuts off pretty much any opportunity for moisture moving north or west to initiate convection over the region.. Occasionally, yes, storms occur ..but they are generally high- based, and brief.. and normally only produce a few flashes/ strikes... and rarely more than some sprinkles. Great cloud watching however..

Conditions have to be prime for there to be -what i would consider- actual thunderstorms, the kind experienced back east, in the Plains.. Texas/Florida, AZ. and the Southwest, ( when we actually have a monsoon season, lol.. ) and occasionally, but more often than further north, in S. Cal.

I can only recall a handful of "memorable" storms, the biggest, most Monsoon-like occurring on September 23rd, 1990, nearly a year after the '89 Quake, and freeze the following winter.. when an odd confluence of conditions came together to produce one heck of a storm. Lightning from it took half a dozen transformers along the street i lived on at the time. Was surprised no fires started since it was on-par to this summer's event in magnitude.  anyway, some tweets regarding just how exceptional such events are.  for this part f the world.. 

Have mentioned it before and, at this point, no way to know for sure, but have seen some research regarding the effects of climate change which have thrown around suggestions that summer storms in the Bay Area.. and CA. in general, closer to the coast at least, may become a bit more common during the summer in the future.. Aside from the obvious fire concerns, wouldn't mind that extra little bit of entertainment during relatively benign summers out there..  Some other research also suggests winter storms may also become warmer and more convective, offering up more potential light shows through the cooler months as well..  anyway..

These too might become a touch more common in California's future..

 

Edited January 5 by Silas_Sancona
edit

[Alicante 289]

Benidorm, Spain (38º 32' N) - 2020

Yearly average: 20.4ºC / 68.7F
High average: 23.7ºC / 74,7F
Low average: 17.1ºC / 62.8F

January: 16.8ºC / 9.9ºC (62.2/49.8F) - AVG. 13.4ºC / 56.1F - rain 107.2mm / 4.22in
February: 18.9ºC / 12.1ºC (66.0/53.8F) - AVG. 15.5ºC / 59.9F - rain 1.0mm / 0.04in
March: 19.3ºC / 13.3ºC (66.7/55.9F) - AVG. 16.3ºC / 61.3F - rain 76.9mm / 3.03in
April: 21.0ºC / 14.6ºC (69.8F/58.3F) - AVG. 17.8ºC / 64.0F - rain 19.3mm / 0.76in
May: 26.0ºC / 18.9ºC (78.8/66.0F) - AVG. 22.5ºC / 72.5F - rain 22.9mm / 0.90in
June: 27.6ºC / 21.0ºC (81.7/69.8F) - AVG. 24.3ºC / 75.7F - rain 14.1mm / 0.56in
July: 31.6ºC / 24.8ºC (88.9/76.6F) - AVG. 28.2ºC / 82.8F rain - 1.6mm / 0.06in
August: 31.3ºC / 25.1ºC (88.3/77.2F) - AVG. 28.2ºC / 82.8F - rain 3.1mm / 0.12in
September: 28.6ºC / 22.2ºC (83.5/71.9F) - AVG. 25.4ºC / 77.7F - rain 1.5mm / 0.06in
October: 23.9ºC / 17.1ºC (75.0/62.8F) - AVG. 20.5ºC / 68.9F - rain 8.8mm / 0.35in
November: 21.4ºC / 15.3ºC (70.5/59.5F) - AVG. 18.4ºC / 65.1F - rain 24.0mm / 0.94in
December: 18.1ºC / 11.2ºC (64.6/52.2F) - AVG. 14.7ºC / 58.5F - rain 3.8mm / 0.15in

Total rain: 284.2mm / 11.19in
Hottest temperature: 36.7ºC / 98.1F on 30 July
Coldest temperature: 5.8ºC / 42.4F on 26 December
Highest low temperature: 27.5ºC / 81.5F on 28 July
Coldest high temperature: 14.4ºC / 57.9F on 20 January

I don't have sunshine values, but the ones from my nearest official station at 50km/30mi (Alicante) have been 3.315h which is quite impressive!

Edited January 13 by Alicante

[Alicante 289]

And this is my 2020 summary in a Wikipedia styled weather box:

[SailorBold 514]

Just did a quick weather underground summary for my neighborhood..one from my station and another from a couple streets over...

My weatherstation..

2020 temperature range-

16f-105f. Precip was 5.74"

From a couple streets over-

16f-108f Precip was 6.62"

Pretty dry year.. although not far off from normals.