Phoenix breaks 159-day streak with rainfall, ending longest dry spell

On the brink of breaking the record for the number of days without rain, Phoenix finally got a few drops! The National Weather Service in Phoenix reported that Phoenix Sky Harbor airport recorded 0.01″ of rain on Wednesday, January, 29, 2025, officially ending the dry streak at 159 days. The longest rainless streak in Phoenix lasted 160 days, from December 1971 to June 1972. Randy Cerveny, a climatologist at ASU, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the drought the Valley experienced and what can be expected leading into the spring and summer. Cerveny described the lack of precipitation as “the ridge,” a jet stream of rainfall, that has been hitting the Northwestern part of the U.S. in Washington and Oregon this fall and winter seasons. The weather patterns are a result of a warmer winter in the South and cooler winter in the North of the U.S. which is called “La Niña.” “Given the strength of the changes made in the jet stream, I think it will intensify into a pretty strong ‘La Niña,'” Cerveny said. Cerveny hinted at a possibility of successful La Niña occurrence this year, following three consecutive La Niñas in previous years. Looking at the seasonal precipitation outlook, Cerveny noted the areas in the brown zone indicated extremely low chances of storms in February, March and April. He noted that there is a possibility of no rain until the monsoon season later this year. “It is possible, I hate to say this, but we may not get rain until the monsoon,” Cerveny said. Cerveny said this could be the new normal driven by La Niña and an intensifying sub tropical high-pressure system pushing the jet stream north each year. With dry conditions already settling in this spring, Cerveny said the summer could bring much more extreme weather. He described it as a “fire season.”