Under the evening sun, a biker uses the paths along the Santa Cruz River Park on April 23, 2020, as temperatures rose above 90-degrees. The temperature in Tucson hit 100 degrees on April 29.
April 29, 2020
Tucson experienced its first 100-degree day of 2020 on Wednesday, the National Weather Service reported.
The temperature hit triple-digits in Tucson at 2:47 p.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, making it the fifth-earliest 100-degree day on record for the Old Pueblo.
From 1895 to 2019, on average, the first 100-degree day in Tucson has been May 25.
The earliest 100-degree day in the last 10 years and the last time Tucson had triple-digit temperatures in April was in 2012, on April 22.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the latest first-time triple-digit occurrence on record is June 22, 1905.
Last year’s first 100-degree day came later than average, June 9, but every day after that in June was a day of triple-digit temperatures.
Jim Meyer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the Star earlier this week that it is difficult to predict whether an earlier first 100-degree day will lead to a hotter-than-average summer.
“It’s almost like nature tries to make up for it and balance things out,” Meyer said. “If you start out early with your 100-degree days you do have a better chance of having more above-average numbers of 100-degree days, but I don’t know, a lot of times it just seems like somewhere along the line, it just balances back out again.”
An excessive heat warning has been issued for the Tucson area for Thursday, April 30, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The high temperature could range from 100 to 107 degrees, the Weather Service said.
