Phoenix Weather Report for Nov 20th, 2020
Forecaster: Waters, S.
We’re going to remain around 10 degrees above normal through the weekend, but I haven’t heard too many complaints. Today will remain partly cloudy with light winds and afternoon highs in the range of 83 to 86.
Overnight will also be partly cloudy with lows from 58 -64. Tomorrow we’ll drop a degree or two to 80-83, again with passing high clouds. Sunday the drop continues with highs from the low 80s for the northern zones and 84 for Phoenix and Gila Bend
Air Quality Forecast
ADEQ Meteorologist: M. Pace
Satellite this morning shows a large fetch of clouds extending from the Southwestern United States back to just west of Hawaii. With not much change in the weather picture through the middle of Sunday, expecting these clouds to continue streaming overhead, especially tomorrow. Unfortunately, no rain will be associated with these clouds.
Late Sunday, through the day on Monday, a weak weather disturbance is expected to brush through the state. While rain chances will remain zero with this system, it will increase breezes slightly and begin to lower high temperatures back into the 70s.
As for air quality, today into the weekend, our main concern will be PM-10 and PM-2.5 values. It should be noted that 85 percent of the state is now in Extreme or Exceptional drought, which is the worst drought numbers we have seen since July 2002. These very dry conditions, combined with light winds, stronger morning inversions, and an increase in local dust and smoke production, both PM-10 and PM-2.5 values have been on the rise. Yesterday, the West 43rd PM-10 monitor in the south part of the Valley came in at 95 AQI (keep in mind, the federal health standard is exceeded at 101 AQI).
With stagnant conditions likely through late Sunday, PM-10 and PM-2.5 values are forecast to remain in the upper Moderate AQI category. By Monday, with some breezes in the forecast, it should help clear out the dust and smoke build-up just a bit, allowing values to lower slightly; however, they will remain elevated. Right now, we do not have any High Pollution Watches or Advisories in place, but we will be watching trends very closely.
