• Reporter profile
• More by Dylan Smith

• Latest
• Most Commented

• Radar van locations, traffic incidents & today's gas prices
• The Sentinel Quiz: Test your news knowledge
• Police & fire scanners
• Gov. Brewer appoints 5 to ASDB Board
• Hamed: Brewer must continue ASDB's fresh start

• Poll: Flake among least-favorite senators after gun-bill vote7
• Buckley: My first and last days at the Tucson Citizen4
• Pima County, Humane Borders mapping migrant deaths4
• Pima prof: Probation based on hearsay from small groups4
• El Rio for all, not 'for sale'3

Thanks to

Posted Jun 30, 2011, 8:05 am

Dylan Smith TucsonSentinel.com

The first drop of rain recorded since April 9 fell at Tucson International Airport on Thursday morning.

The 81-day dry spell was broken at 3:28 a.m., the National Weather Service said.

That ended the fourth-longest stretch without recorded precipitation in Tucson, the agency said. The longest was 100 days, from March 30 to July 7, 2002.

It'll probably be a few days until nature repeats its feat.  

Hot temperatures will continue across Southeast Arizona on Thursday with even hotter temperatures the next several days. Thursday's forecast is mostly sunny, with a high of 104 degrees. Friday: sunny and hot, with a high of 108.

Showers and thunderstorms are expected to be isolated in nature Thursday with the bulk of the activity to the east of Tucson. Saturday through Monday, there will be a chance of monsoon showers; a upswing in thunderstorms is expected later this weekend into early next week.