Storms make way into Valley with strong winds, scattered showers causing power outages

Storms made their way into the Valley from the east Monday night, bringing strong winds and scattered showers, according to weather officials.

The National Weather Service for Phoenix said the activity started making its way toward Phoenix metro around 7:30 p.m. and landed in the Valley about an hour later.

“There’ll be some showers and thunderstorms moving into the East Valley over the next hour here,” NWS Meteorologist Mark O’Malley told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “Biggest threat is going to be gusty winds, 40 mph or so.”

Multiple special weather statements that encompassed much of the Valley were issued due to the winds and advised the public to seek shelter.

As far as rain, O’Malley explained that some areas might see a quarter of an inch of rain while others might not receive any at all.

“There’ll be a few heavy downpours, but mostly across the metro it’ll be fairly light rainfall,” O’Malley said.

The weather knocked left more than 13,000 Arizona Public Service and Salt River Project customers without power as of 9:15 p.m.

APS expected power to be restored for a majority of its customers by around 12:30 a.m. while SRP anticipated having its customers power back on by 11 p.m.

By Tuesday morning, APS and SRP power was almost fully restored. A few pockets of 50 customers or fewer were still without electricity as of 6:30 a.m.

The storms also caused a ground stop at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport that was set to expire at 10 p.m. and delay flights by an average of 45 minutes.

The showers and storms developed over the Pinal Mountains and neighboring areas of southern Gila County around 6:45 p.m. before making their way west, according to NWS.

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