One way to describe the recent weather pattern with late-season snow in the High Country and these way-cooler-than-normal temps in Phoenix: "Unusual."
It's actually a word thrown out there by the National Weather Service in Phoenix. To showcase how "unusual the weather pattern is right now" the agency shared a photo on Twitter comparing the high temperature of Phoenix Wednesday to the high temperature of Fairbanks, Alaska.
Spoiler alert: They were the same.
But it wasn't just the cool morning temp, 17 degrees below normal to be exact, Thursday. The Valley received some rain too. According to NWS Phoenix, Sky Harbor, where the official rain measurement occurs, recorded 0.06 inches of rain Thursday morning. The total for May is up to .10 inches which is about 0.01 inches below average for this month.
May 2019 actually marks the third coolest May for Phoenix in the last 30 years, according to the National Weather Service. The average high for the month has been 76.3.
Temperatures will actually stay well below normal through Memorial Day weekend, despite a 92-degree high in the forecast for Saturday. According to NWS Phoenix, 2012 was the last time Phoenix saw highs in the 80s for this holiday weekend.
If the temperatures in Phoenix didn't make you forget for a second that we're less than 30 days from the start of summer, one look at the High Country Thursday just might.
PHOTOS: Snow in Arizona on May 23
PHOTOS: Snow falls in Arizona on May 23
NWS Flagstaff said many places across northern Arizona would see record-breaking coldest-high temps Wednesday.
The "unusual late-season winter storm," as NWS Flagstaff called it, also brought plenty of snow to the High Country Thursday. By 5 a.m. Thursday, the Flagstaff Airport was reporting 0.4 inches of snow while reports from Williams measured 1.5 inches.
The snow on May 23 is actually pretty rare, there's just a 2 percent shot at getting snow on this date in any given year. And there's only been about a dozen times measurable snow was recorded on May 23 or later in recorded history.
Snow was already visible on the ground in Flagstaff early Thursday morning, enough to even make a spring snow angel.
