An unusual storm system hit the Valley Tuesday, bringing early goosebumps to ASU students just in time for Halloween.
On Wednesday, temperatures are expected to be in the 50s with wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour, officials said.
The temperature decreased by more than 20 degrees from one day to the next this October, only the third time since 1895 such a significant drop took place in the Phoenix area, according to the National Weather Service Web site.
Doug Green, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said this type of weather is very unusual for this time of year.
“This is a very intense system,” he said. “We will have two really cold days by our standards.”
The last time the temperature dropped more than 20 degrees in October over a two-day period was in 1975.
Chris Gast, ASU Residential Hall Association director, wanted to get the word out to students after hearing about the cold front on Monday.
“I know it’s going to happen where people go outside, then run back in to get their jacket,” he said.
Gast, who is from the Valley, said he has seen heat spikes in Arizona’s temperature levels, but not drops of this magnitude.
“It’s a time to make sure you bundle up,” he said.
He also wanted to make sure people were aware of the cold temperatures for health reasons.
“It’s definitely something we are not used to,” he said.
The storm system is expected to leave the Valley by Friday and temperatures are expected to be back to normal by Saturday at about 83 degrees.
“By Friday it will move out to the middle of the country,” Green said.
“We’re forecasting a near normal day for Halloween.”
The record for the lowest high temperature for Oct. 28 in Phoenix is 64 degrees, which was set in 1911.
That record is expected to be tied Wednesday with continued gusty winds, according to the National Weather Service.
“We are talking excess of 15 degrees below normal,” Green said.
The average high temperature from Oct. 28 to Oct. 30 is 82 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Precipitation is not expected to make it past the mountains in Northern and Eastern Arizona, leaving the Valley windy but not wet, Green said.
“We will just be cold and probably dry here in the desert,” he said.
The cold front is expected to leave as quickly as it came, and temperatures will climb back to above normal by the late weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Sunday is predicted to reach a high of 86 degrees and Monday could reach as high as 89 degrees, Green said.
Reach the reporter at nathan.meacham@asu.edu.
