Lackluster Phoenix-area monsoon season officially comes to end

PHOENIX – Goodbye, Arizona monsoon season 2019, we hardly knew you.

The rainy season was likely to come to a quiet end Monday, pretty much the way it came in June 15 without a drop in sight. With only 0.66 inches of rain recorded at the official National Weather Service gauge at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, it will be the fifth-driest monsoon season in the Valley on record.

The average amount of rainfall in season is 2.77 inches.

“We could have had rain earlier on that missed Phoenix Sky Harbor,” Chris Breckenridge, a forecaster for the weather service, told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

Even a tropical storm off the coast of Mexico wasn’t expected to make its way to metro Phoenix. It would probably hit southeastern Arizona later this week.

Last day of the monsoon. Phoenix Sky Harbor at 0.66 inches of rain since June 15. @NWSPhoenix says average is 2.71. Tucson at 5.06 inches of rain during the monsoon. @NWSTucson says average is 5.95 inches. @KTAR923

— Jim Cross (@Crossfire923) September 30, 2019

Monsoon 2019 officially ends today!

It's going down as the 5th driest on record for PHX.
Even though last week's rain wasn't technically monsoon related, it gets included in our monsoon rain bucket & it's the reason we didn't end up higher on that driest monsoon list.#abc15wx pic.twitter.com/5mkPsbqGy6

— Iris Hermosillo (@IrisABC15) September 30, 2019

Mostly clear skies and slightly below normal temperatures will be seen this week. May have a slight chance of rain late in the week, but best chances will be across eastern Arizona. #azwx pic.twitter.com/5mfZwsfhow

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) September 29, 2019

Last year, at the end of August, Phoenix was 22 percent ahead of its 30-year seasonal average.

There has been rain: Storms that passed through a week ago pounded pockets of the city and its suburbs from east to west. Some areas got 2 to 3 inches, triggering flash flood warnings.

First responders went out to make several water rescues and thousands of homes lost power.

But all that water collected didn’t fall “… at the No. 1 station where it matters seemingly most,” Breckenridge said.

There wasn’t much rain that fell in Flagstaff, either.

“It looks like this going to down as the driest monsoon we’ve seen on record,” Justin Johndrow, at the weather service’s Flagstaff bureau, said of the 2.08-inch rain total.

Records go back to 1899.

It's the final day of #Monsoon2019 and there's no rain in the forecast. So, let's take a look back at rainfall totals (or lack thereof) across northern Arizona. #azwx pic.twitter.com/Hj2Uw77DYb

— NWS Flagstaff (@NWSFlagstaff) September 30, 2019

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.

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