Hit-or-miss 2017 monsoon season coming to end in Arizona

PHOENIX — The monsoon season “officially” wraps up Saturday after an unspectacular showing in Phoenix.

Sky Harbor Airport has had 2.3 inches of rain since June 15, which is almost a half-inch below the normal rainfall of 2.71 inches.

The last measurable rainfall at Sky Harbor was August 23. Some parts of the East Valley had 3-5 inches of rain.

There was storm activity in July but a long stretch of extreme heat interfered with moisture the previous month.

Monsoon season typically starts June 15. This time around, Valley residents endured days and days of temperatures of at least 110 degrees.

Glenn Lader with the National Weather Service in Tucson said that city had 8.57 inches of rain and 6.8 inches of that fell in July.

Tucson usually gets 6.08 inches of rain during the monsoon. The city had the 11th-wettest monsoon on record but it was the most rainfall ever received there in July.

“The rest of the time it has been fairly dry. We only had one big event in August, which brought most of the 1.74 inches of rain.

“Really, July was the active month and the rest of the time not so much. This is going to be one of our driest Septembers on record. It was really a tale of two monsoons this summer.”

Flagstaff had 8.36 inches of rainfall. The city averages 8.46 inches.

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