It might be June, but where is the desert's usual triple-digit heat?
Desert residents who took a recent dip in the swimming pool probably noticed the water temperature was cooler than for a typical first week in June.
With nights dropping into the 60s and days mostly failing to crack triple digits, the chillier swimming conditions may be around a little longer. The Coachella Valley is in the midst of another below-average stretch that is leaving residents wondering what happened to summer.
“It’s definitely been cooler and we expect that to kind of stick around for most of the week,” said Adam Roser, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego.
May marked the fourth below-average month of 2023 already for the Palm Springs area, and if weather forecast trends over the next two weeks prove correct, June will be the fifth.
"By the weekend another area of low pressure will bring more cooler and breezier weather,” Roser said. “We expect 80s again by next Sunday.”
Afternoon high temperatures in the 80s are not normal for June in the Coachella Valley. Four of the eight days this June have featured high temperatures in the 80s. Conversely, last year only saw two June days where the temperature stayed under 100 degrees.
However, many residents probably are not complaining as they save a little on energy bills and enjoy unseasonably pleasant evenings for outdoor high school graduation ceremonies.
“May was definitely cool and we are going to continue the cooler pattern,” Roser said. “I don’t see us hitting triple digits in the next week at least.”
Palm Springs International Airport has recorded 16 days over 100 degrees so far this year, including five in April, nine in May and two through the first five days in June.
The 16 triple-digit days are the second-fewest through June 8 in the past seven years. By this time last year, there had been 22 100-degree days. In the blazing hot summer of 2020, Palm Springs had experienced 28 100-degree-or-warmer days by this time.
The average high temperature is now 101 degrees, and that average high will climb to 109 by July 10. But long-range weather trends indicate below- to much-below-normal temperatures continuing through at least June 21.
“It’s on the unusual side with some of these low-pressure centers coming down the coast,” Roser said. “It’s late in the season for this. We usually see more in the winter and early spring. (This cooler weather) is anomalous in that regard with it being cooler and windier.”
Roser said the cooler weather also has been quite noticeable along the Southern California coast, where the typical May Gray has turned into June Gloom.
“It’s been very cloudy and cool along the coast,” Roser said. “The next couple of weeks are looking cooler and windier with a marine layer to the west. I’m sure it will all change in no time.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs area weather: Typical 100-degree weather are missing
