Just enough to count: Monsoon rainfall arrives, leaves a bit in Phoenix area
Jun 28, 2016, 7:54 AM | Updated: Jul 20, 2016, 5:21 pm
PHOENIX — It wasn’t much, but the Phoenix area has its first measurable rainfall of the summer in the bucket.
Sky Harbor Airport had one-hundredths of an inch of rainfall on Monday night. Apache Junction, Gilbert and Scottsdale picked up two-tenths of an inch of rain.
Jessica Nolte with the National Weather Service said last week’s heatwave that brought temperatures of 116 and 118 certainly helped get the ball rolling.
It may be a little hard to tell, but that's rain we're seeing on US 60 in the East Valley. #PhxTraffic #azwx pic.twitter.com/ypbxzwY4w9
— Arizona DOT (@ArizonaDOT) June 28, 2016
“That stretch of excessive heat as unfortunate and uncomfortable as it was to go through really kicked off the monsoonal transition with the winds and shifting the moisture into the area,” she said.
Nolte said the area’s peak in storm activity will happen in the Thursday-Friday time frame.
“We see a bit of drying working its way into the area from the west,” Nolte said.
“Temperatures will warm up as we head for the holiday weekend but the chances of rain will diminish and may be relegated to only the higher terrain for the fourth of July holiday.”
The monsoon rainfall typical arrives around July 4 so Monday night’s storm came a bit ahead of normal.
