Tracking much warmer temperatures this week

We have been tracking much warmer-than-usual temperatures for this past week. That trend will continue today and this upcoming work week as highs continue to climb. Today, however, highs will be in the mid 80s. This puts us roughly 10 degrees above the seasonal average of 75°F. It's a great day to enjoy a local hike or any of the numerous events going on from the Date Festival to farmers' markets.

As predicted, the drought situation improved marginally after the last rain event over a week ago. While this technically helped, the entire region is still experiencing either severe or extreme drought conditions. We still have a very long way to go before we see some real, large-scale improvements to the drought situation. Unfortunately, there isn't much rain in the forecast for the desert, even on the extended models.

I said we're going to warm up even more this week and I wasn't kidding! We can expect highs in the upper 80s to start the week before they quickly limb into the lower 90s. The average date of the first 90°F day in Palm Springs is March 11th. This puts us roughly two weeks ahead of schedule. Fortunately, skies will stay predominantly clear.