Is more rain expected in metro Phoenix after overnight monsoon storms?

PHOENIX – There’s a good chance for more rain in metro Phoenix on Thursday — but no guarantee — after overnight monsoon storms blanketed the area.

To be safe, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flood watch for the Valley from noon through midnight.

Residents whose homes are susceptible to flooding are advised to use sandbags to divert possible floodwater.

The city of Phoenix is making sand available at eight parks (click here for locations). The sand is free while supplies last, but residents must bring their own bags and shovels. Meanwhile, four Mesa fire stations are providing sand and two other cites in the city have prefilled sandbags available (click here for locations).

While there’s about a 40% chance for precipitation Thursday, it’s hard to predict how the day will play out after the last round of monsoon storms, according to NWS meteorologist Chris Kuhlman.

“The air is definitely very moist and capable of producing heavy rainfall, but because we saw all that rain yesterday, the atmosphere is not as quite primed,” Kuhlman told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Thursday morning.

Why Thursday’s Phoenix weather forecast has uncertainty

For thunderstorms to develop in these conditions, the monsoon-cooled air needs to warm up enough during the day to create atmospheric instability, the meteorologist explained.

“If we can destabilize enough and kind of recharge the atmosphere, then we should be able to still see some showers and thunderstorms, probably more like this evening in the Phoenix area,” he said. “It’s just not a guaranteed thing, but if we do get any thunderstorms, some of those could produce heavy rainfall and some minor flooding.”

Kuhlman added that the Valley could still see isolated storms on Friday before drying out over the weekend.

“It will stay fairly cool at least,” he said. “We’ll see below-normal temperatures, highs in the 90s for the next few days.”

How much rain fell during overnight monsoon storms?

The moisture in the Valley is coming up from the Gulf of California, where Hurricane Lorena has been churning this week. Storms developed south of Casa Grande early Wednesday evening and pushed north before spreading across the Phoenix area, Kuhlman said.

“Almost every location received some rain, upwards of even over an inch in some areas. Like in Tempe, there is over an inch, and parts of Glendale and north Phoenix also over an inch,” he said.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which the NWS uses for the city’s official readings, received 0.03 inches before midnight and another 0.15 inches by the time the storm activity subsided early Thursday.

“Depending on where you were, if you got underneath one of those storms, you got drenched. Some other areas just saw light rain,” he said.

As of Thursday morning, Phoenix’s rainfall total for the 2025 monsoon season stood at just 0.68 inches. Phoenix typically has nearly 2 inches total by this time of Arizona’s annual “rainy” season, which runs from June 15 to Sept. 30.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Colton Krolak contributed to this report.

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