Weather in Tucson in March

Prime time. March is about as good as Tucson gets. Highs average 24.9 °C, lows 8.9 °C, and rain falls on 2 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

March is the highest-scoring month of the twelve. The nearest rival is November, and the month at the other end of the year is July.

Rain falls on only 2 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 4 days top 30 °C — hot spells arrive, but they break; the day swings 16 °C from low to high, which means one bag has to cover both. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 34.6 °C and the coldest night fell to -2.4 °C.

March is moderately variable: 1 mm in the driest year against 37 mm in the wettest, around an average of 14 mm. Roughly two Marchs in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 9.1 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and the air is dry at 39% humidity, which makes the heat far more bearable than the same figure somewhere humid — and dehydrates you faster than you expect.

How March sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 4.2 °C warmer than February, and April adds another 3.9 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in March

11.9 hours of daylight, gaining 1 hours across the month. That is between Tucson's extremes of 14.2 and 10.1 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 34.5 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage. At 759 m the air is thin enough to matter — sun that burns faster than the temperature suggests, and nights that cool off quickly. Within March itself the daily swing is 16 °C, so mornings and afternoons need different clothes.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

March in Tucson versus nearby

If Tucson is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Phoenix is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain. Sedona is the weaker option in March — 6.6 °C cooler, 3 days more rain.

So: March is the answer for Tucson. If it is booked out or priced out, November is the next best thing at 2 points behind, and July is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in Tucson

See all twelve months in Tucson, or where else to go in March.